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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Java for Android by Vanderbilt University

4.5
stars
3,050 ratings

About the Course

This MOOC teaches you how to program core features and classes from the Java programming language that are used in Android, which is the dominant platform for developing and deploying mobile device apps. In particular, this MOOC covers key Java programming language features that control the flow of execution through an app (such as Java’s various looping constructs and conditional statements), enable access to structured data (such as Java's built-in arrays and common classes in the Java Collections Framework, such as ArrayList and HashMap), group related operations and data into classes and interfaces (such as Java's primitive and user-defined types, fields, methods, generic parameters, and exceptions), customize the behavior of existing classes via inheritance and polymorphism (such as subclassing and overriding virtual methods). Learners will apply these Java features in the context of core Android components (such as Activities and basic UI elements) by applying common tools (such as Android Studio) needed to develop Java programs and useful Android apps. Learners will work on several hands-on projects throughout the MOOC, i.e., each week will require learners to write solutions to programming assignments that reinforce the material covered in the lecture videos. There will be roughly 4-6 hours of student engagement time per week, including video lectures, quizzes, and programming assignments....

Top reviews

RB

Aug 3, 2020

This course will provide all basic information of android and it will also help you to understand the fundamental of java which is used in android. It really help me to improve my skills in android.

SP

Nov 16, 2019

Excellent !! As a beginner I found this course a major kick-start to building a strong base for my Android app skills. A lot of practice needed though, but these videos would keep me going well

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1 - 25 of 816 Reviews for Java for Android

By paul s k

•

Mar 3, 2019

This course is poorly done. The videos are not up to date with the current versions of the tools they are using. I thoroughly enjoyed how there is multiple parts in the second module where they could not bother to edit the video's when things where misread.

I also liked how the first module jumps into talking about super classes, interfaces, polymorphism, abstraction, and inheritance. Then tell you not to worry about fully understanding these concepts as its an introductory course and will cover it more in depth later. Followed by a quiz on said concepts.

I have already done some courses and have an understanding of object oriented programming. I could figure my way thru this hodge podge course but this does not sit well with me. Considering this course is asking for more money then the other courses I have taken, and has by far had the least upkeep done, I do not feel its justified.

Considering this question is on the first quiz..

Which of the following are expectations of learners who take this MOOC, according to the lessons in this module?

The correct answers are:

-You are expected have basic computer literacy skills, such as knowing how to send & receive emails and browse the web.

-You are expected to be interested in both the concepts and practice of developing mobile apps

This course has already failed on delivering what it is promising people. I would recommend the instructors here take some of the Duke University courses to get some pointers and redo this course properly.

Ask me how I really feel.... :P

By Gaylen C

•

Sep 23, 2017

The information is out of order for people very new to Java, which makes it difficult to learn with the class. You'll spend a lot of time doing outside research and trying to find examples of code that the instructors fail to present in the lectures.

The assignments are rather hard for the scope of what this class is trying to accomplish. For example, this relies a lot on math--which, while useful to programming, isn't necessary to learn the language in the first place. The instructors aren't very helpful with explaining things you don't understand because of "Coursera's honor code". This makes the learning process both difficult and aggravating. And the reward of possibly figuring it out is not worth the hours you'll spend trying to work it out.

The assignments also contain problems that was not properly gone over within the lectures. So, if you don't have a lot of time to devote to researching the topics yourself, I suggest you skip this one. The forums are so-so in terms of helping you understand things. The instructors and mentors tend to just repeat directions at you instead of listing another example or further explaining how to figure out a problem that they never properly explained in the first place.

There is also a final peer-graded assignment for a beginner's class, which must be reviewed by so many people to even be considered as "complete." Plenty of people have complained about having to switch to the next course because they can't get enough reviews on their assignment. You must also review 5 assignments, or 10% of your grade is penalized. This is definitely not a class for people looking to learn in their spare time. The amount of estimated time per week is also grossly understated due to the very vague explanations and difficult quizzes and assignments. So, again, don't take this if you don't have a lot of spare time to devote to it.

I very, very, very rarely ever rate anything below a 3/5 on websites because it's usually just a matter of not liking the course. But I feel compelled to echo what many others who have not completed the course are saying in the hopes that this course will be revised to be made learnable and passable. I wish I had trusted the negative reviews before wasting my time on this. I'm usually excited to learn things. But I absolutely hate this course. It's impossible to feel like I know anything at all while trying to progress through it.

By Bruce W

•

Jun 11, 2018

The Android studio used in the course is at least 2 major revisions old. Projects do not match the current API levels or AVD devices. eg. Android studio 3.1.3 will not compile the application from week 1 without complaining. I'm glad that I decided to audit the course before paying for it. Needless to say I won't be.

By Dan O

•

May 19, 2016

I feel this course was severely misrepresented. This clearly not a beginner level class by any measurement. And the "4-6 hours" of expected student involvement is ridiculous. A beginner (NO programming experience) should expect to spend 15 to 20 hours on the first week alone and at least 10 hours for each of the remaining weeks.

I have over 25 years of programming experience in Assembly language, Visual Basic, C and C++. I am clearly NOT at the beginner level yet I spent more than 11 hours on the first week, mostly due to trying to download and setup properly for the course. Also, there are over 3 hours of videos in the 1st week plus 3 quizzes and a programming assignment. If anyone spent less than 6 hours on week 1, then that was NOT the first time they took this class.

I also am keenly disappointed in the restrictive nature of the assignments/quizzes. Having to type "-1*1+11" instead of "-i+11" (and you better not have any leading or lagging spaces!!) for instance.

Bottom line, I would not recommend this course for anyone wanting to Learn Java for Android Programming unless you already know Java and just want some intro on Android development with Android Studio. And if you are indeed at the beginner level, do yourself a favor and start with introductory courses in Computer Science.

By Shashank V

•

Jun 28, 2018

Excellent !! As a beginner I found this course a major kick-start to building a strong base for my Android app skills. A lot of practice needed though, but these videos would keep me going well

By Bola K S

•

Jun 27, 2017

this course not for beginner it's for upper intermediate programmer

By Jade F

•

Jan 8, 2019

This is a 5 star course - I worried that this first course in the specialization would gloss over the details of Java in order to get you into apps, but I was wrong - these instructors will teach you very good Java practices and by the end of the course you will have a broad exposure to the Java programming language.

This is a high quality course that check all the boxes of a great Coursera program - professional instructors, well constructed programming assignments with unit tests, and lots of content to work through.

You get a lot of Java here - I'd actually recommend this one to anybody looking for Java training. Android specific material comes in later courses - this one if a very confidently delivered overview of Java.

By Akbar H B

•

Oct 22, 2019

This is the best course for the basics of Java for Android. Concepts are easy to understand and deeply addressed. All Assignments and quizzes are ok except for HerdManager.java and FilltheCorral.java because it is difficult to understand the requirements of Assignment( i.e what is herd, what is corral, what is pasture, in other words, you have to learn these terms in order to attempt the assignment so this assignment is difficult in this context) while the rest is BEST! It has increased my learning.

By Aadithyavarma

•

Jun 24, 2017

This course is very good to learn the basics of Java and how to write a Java code in a object oriented manner. Ths course helped me to learn how to write more efficient and scalable code.

By Shubam V

•

Jun 28, 2019

Course is well designed and everything is perfect but the lectures are little bit boring they can be made little bit interesting using animations!

By Lori

•

Aug 5, 2020

This course was informative and helped me further my grasp of Object-oriented programming. Overall, it was a good course for the cost, and it is certainly achievable by individuals with little-to-no background in Java programming.

Few comments:

*The instructors are very helpful and respond quickly to help requests in the forum. I cannot stress this enough to new/prospective students - if you have an issue, consult the forum!

*Some parts of the course are outdated and could benefit from minor updates. To students, my advice is to consult the Discussion forum and submit a thread, if an answer cannot be found. Again, the professors are very good about replying quickly. To the organizers of this course, it would be beneficial to add a note to the lessons with critical new information - Such as using an ABI that is compatible with modern systems. The "armeabi" ABI we are instructed to use in the video isn't compatible with all systems, and this isn't mentioned due to the outdated natured of the lesson content.

*I understand the need for peer review, but it was not very helpful for me. My peer reviews on the final project went one of two ways: All top scores were selected with no/unhelpful comments, or the peers grading was very unfair (gave 0 points for no reason or counted off for something that wasn't actually an issue). Hopefully others had a better experience, but based on my experience, most peers view this as a chore and breeze through it, or they use it as an opportunity to be harsh/mean. I like the auto-grading, because it forces you to look at your code in detail and debug.

By Steve

•

Feb 14, 2019

This class does a good job in quickly teaching students the basics of Java and Object-Oriented Programming concepts. However, the assignment files and teaching instructions for Android Studio are out of date.

By Ahmed E

•

Aug 18, 2016

The assignments are challenging and well balanced. The extra provided code adds a good opportunity to see how professional programmers code and the course videos explain all the content clearly and in an organized fashion. Overall, the course is made easy through the videos and the assignments do well to compel good and continuous practice.

By Massimo T

•

Jul 28, 2016

A useful course, with clear explanations of the main features of Java programming language and Object Oriented Programming.

I found the teachers competent and I liked the approach of the course, especially aimed at understanding the logic of Java and the logic of good software development.

Finally I found very useful peer review assessments.

By Paul R

•

Jan 23, 2017

This is basic course of Java applied not only for Android development. At the beginning of this course you don't need to know anything about java, but step by step you will find out basics and going to know OOP fundamentals. In my opinion third week is the hardest one, but everything is possible to do. Great course.

By William H

•

Aug 9, 2017

Excellent class. I took another Android programming series of classes. This first class covering Java used all Android Studio programming examples. This was better than having the programming examples Java based not using Android Studio. I learned so much more in this class.

By Syed R M

•

May 16, 2016

I am relatively experienced programmer trying to just understand the Android app development framework and solve some interesting challenges along the way. I feel the course, was very painstaking in terms of code reviewing other people's work.

If I were to break up the time I spent doing the course work, it would be as follows:

30 % useful work

70 % taking care of course logistics (code review, writing comments on every line of code just so that people being asked to review my work are happy). Why do we have to do so many code reviews? Not every assignment requires people's coding style to be evaluated. It places an unnecessary time burden on people who are taking this course not as full time student. Its also reducing the total amount of knowledge that is being disseminated. We should be learning about Android for 4 more hours rather than reviewing code for other people for 4 more hours.

The thing I found most frustrating is that the assignments are trying to force a particular coding style on everyone. Since I am an experienced programmer, I understand the importance of coding style, creating functions and all that. However, how I structure my code and how many comments I write are entirely my choice.

Now, while I understand that the course material itself does not ask you to structure code one way or another; the review guidelines that are being given to some very inexperienced programmers, makes them believe that this is the only way things should be done. Its a subtle form of style enforcement which I did not appreciate.

By Nirbhay K N

•

Jul 19, 2020

This course is very good and i recommend it to those who have little knowledge of android and want to learn concepts about it .This course is much for learning java and implementing it in your app . The course is less practical and more theoretical . Instructors are very good and course is well organized . It module assignment helped very much to implement the skills that we gained . I had experience of android but didn't had much knowledge of java . This course cleared all my doubt and built my concepts . I recommend it to everyone who want to build a strong base in java software development

By Bonaventure N

•

Oct 19, 2019

I learned a great deal, even though I already read a book on Java. This is a good course to brush up on the Java coding language. I'm hoping to learn Android programming by after taking this course. This one helped with Java coding. Not really Android app creating. Either way, this course is great for building the basics and prepping you with the tools before entering any form of Android app programming. I just finished this course within 2 weeks.

I'm heading onto the second course, which I'm hyped for since all the content provided so far is priceless. Thank you again.

By Muhammed s e

•

Aug 20, 2017

Really very helpful course,it was just the beginning that wasn't that good , trying to explain all the java Object oriented programming features in the beginning i felt lost, but as i moved on through the whole course i started understanding everything in detail.

really very helpful course for the java language and for android development to understand java language very well.

actually the whole course took me less than 4 days to complete , not so hard to understand.

note(i had previous knowledge of c and c++ but not too much , just basics)

By Athul S

•

Apr 30, 2020

This course is recommended for people who have a few knowledge of programming languages. Although this course isn't a beginner-friendly course, I found this course extremely helpful for deepening my knowledge in Java. The Instructors have done a wonderful job of making us understand things with real-life examples. Most of the questions asked in Discussion forums are answered either by the Instructors or by the Mentors. People who know Java can extend their knowledge and understanding by taking this course.

By Usha S

•

May 24, 2017

It was very interesting to go learn what I already know:) through this course. I liked the way it is organized. I got a bit casual with the quizzes but was very serious with the programming assignments. Otherwise I should have secured 100%. But marks or grades aside, it was lovely being busy for the past 4 weeks. I look forward to completing the 2nd course in this Specialization pack.

All the instructors were very good. Thank you all so much.

By Elson O

•

May 18, 2016

Good course. First time enrolled course in Coursera. I really enjoyed it. Lots of quiz and weekly assignment kept me busy for 4 weeks. And because of these ( assignment due date), i really learned by forcing myself to complete all in time. Quite tough on week 3, and i watched the videos multiple times and google the subject in order to understand the contents. Take this course, and struggle for 4 weeks. Will not regret.

By Abhinav S

•

Apr 21, 2020

This was an awesome course from Vanderbilt University, thanks to all the instructors for their precious time in this course. Also, I would like to tell you that this course was too much into the key concepts of java which helped me in both the things i.e., learning java as well as the workflow of an android application. This course is perfect, to begin with, android app development.

By Muhammad F y

•

Dec 24, 2019

Java for Android by Vanderbilt University and Taught by Dr. Jerry Roth, Dr. Julie L. Johnson, Michael Walker & Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt

Excellent! The wonderful culmination of this specialization. I learned so much from all of the courses and appreciated the last to pull it all together. I highly recommend it to everyone! So grateful to everyone for these life-changing courses.