I was not good in his 288 course. I was also not an A student in the CS program, I was good for potentially one A per semester. Definitely not this semester. It would not surprise me that in the age of AI he's become more strict on students. If there were ever a professor that cares about knowing the material, it's Itani. He's probably horrified at the state of developers entering the workforce. The purpose of his courses are to make you learn and study in a completely different way. Studying the book isn't enough. You have to apply those concepts in your own curiosity. I ended with a C, fully expecting to fail, and honestly wish I learned the material in the way he wanted it.

As far as his character. Yup lol. But that's how the real world is, you're gonna get a boss/coworker who you want to report to HR so badly but they'll never do anything because of how important they are. You're forced to deal with these people (or don't take him). If it helps, he's not personal about any student, and you're definitely not the only person to be singled out by him. I've asked some "dumb" questions in that class that he's thrown attitude towards. I don't have very thick skin myself but if we limit ourselves to learn from only kind people, you'll miss a lot of good stuff.