Learner Reviews & Feedback for Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose by Princeton University

I appreciate your work and your services. Your classes are very valuable for whom new in the world of IT is. Thank you very much dear professor!

A very simple down to earth explanation on how to program from a very reputable university

Difficult for beginner's, great for people trying to practice rusty programming skills.

High tempo, definitely some difficult content, but overall I've learned a great deal

Great refresher for JAva.

This was a challenging course, but not for beginners. I am an experienced programmer in several languages and wanted to learn Java, which I accomplished. The course does not teach any design approach (such as flow charting or outlining), which would be best for beginners.

Good over all, but the quizzes can be a little annoying.

Good recap course for an experienced programmer

Lectures and assignments are heavily math-based, even in the very beginning, couldn't continue with course. I'm dyslexic and learning concepts using what feels like high-level math formulas and concepts doesn't work for me, couldn't comprehend a lot of assignment problem statements for the same reason. I'm sure it's great for those that don't struggle with mathematical comprehension, but it doesn't cater for those that do.

THIS COURSE OFFERS VERY LITTLE SUPPORT FROM THE DASHBOARD, ESPECIALLY FROM THE PROFESSORS. Depending on which dashboard, the professor's last comment is at least 1 month old, if not older. As you progress through the course, more/most of the students drop off, because no one is helping each other out and the teachers have abandoned the students. The concepts introduced in the course is not too hard. But the execution of how to solve for a problem into actual code is oftentimes glossed over. If you do not know java already or some other kind of programming language, this course is not for you. Sometimes, the solution calls for you to use an obscure method/code that is not listed in the API list. The other problem is the homework. Most of the homework is worded convolutedly, vaguely (at times), and require the solution to be written in a way that is not taught until much later on in the class. Some information is scattered in the FAQ. Some of the information is not given at all. You have to hope that someone in the dashboards talks about it. Most of the homework involves complex math theories or concepts. If math is not your strong suit, you might want to reconsider. NOT AN INTRODUCTION COURSE.

A great course that is definitely not for beginners. I found this course to be an amazing resource in giving a solid theoretical basis to my programming knowledge. It is not meant to be as practical as Harvard's CS50.

However, some prior knowledge of basic programming and/or Java would be helpful, as not all features of Java are covered in the course and useful hacks programmers employ on a daily basis such as debugging by using print statements is not covered. In short, this course does not go through how to program practically, it expects you to pick that up by wider reading or by reading StackOverflow or Googling endlessly! I only survived because I used Google continuously, read sample java programs to understand how to code including the authors' own stdlib library), and improved my Java skills on HackerRank

Weeks 6-8 were really challenging, especially the one on recursion about Hanoi's Puzzle.

Great, well-designed course, with solid foundations on real-world applications that are really inspiring and enjoyable!

I read the reviews and saw a bunch of people complaining about how little was covered and how ist not for beginners etc. None of this is true, there are adequate resources provided and the whole point of programming is that you learn to do your own research. Also who signs up to a course with Princeton expecting it to be easy and to not be able to at least understand math if the formula is given to you and explained.

Course is great, learned a lot, I wish a lot of the optional exercises were included, I know I can still do them, but being graded on it is super helpful when practicing. Some really cool concepts are introduced and I feel pretty confident with my programming atm compared to where I was when I started (I had watched a few videos on python!)

This is an incredibly challenging course and is probably on par with first year university in terms of difficulty and independent learning and problem solving. I had no real programming and no math at all and this was insanely hard for me and I wanted to give up sometimes, but not impossible if you are a beginner it will just take a lot of work and time. The exercises and sample code provides is rich indeed and a great resource for further study and challenge. If you need something more guided and easier maybe try the Duke Java course(s) but if you can get through this, it is very rewarding.

All materials for this course are clear and concise. Aspects of Java programming were explained clearly in the video lectures. But if things needed a bit of extra clarity or I needed to refresh my memory on something the online materials were there for review. Programming assignments were explained well and reflected the material being taught. The automated grader gives good explanation of what is wrong with your code so you can make corrections and resubmit. I am planning on taking the second half of this coarse next.

For a newbie in programming, this course is highly recommended. It helped me to think in diverse ways. Having noticed java's rigidity compared to popular programming languages, i have been able to start with a disciplined approach by taking this course. I see things around me in a totally different manner during and after this course. It is also a pleasure having professor Sedgwick who smiles in his videos telling you its simple, I'm always like, professor, hope you know you got baby programmers in the class :)

A very demanding course, at least for me who did not know anything about Java and OOP, the weekly exercises are key in the process of learning and the Discussion Forum is very helpful to be able to pass the exercises. I have taken other courses in Coursera but definitely this is the best one on this subject honoring the fact that is taught by Princeton, where once I dreamed to make a PhD. Thanks to the University, the instructors and Coursera, I plan to take the next one that is recommended in the last lecture.

This is my first course on Coursera and this course is EXCELLENT. I started learning java in late 2019 and this course will make you a more sharp java programmer. If you do more then the assignments i.e. the web exercises and also using the book as ac companion with this course you will be facing challenging problems that bring joy if you managed to solve them.

Thank you Princeton University for making this course free and also for the grate Prof. Sedgwick and Wayne for building this course.

This course was incredibly helpful. I've taught myself Python over the years for data analysis purposes, but I never had a solid understanding of computer science principles like you learn in this course. Learning Java along the way was a nice bonus, and it was helpful to compare and understand differences across different languages. The projects were of an appropriate difficulty, and I would strongly recommend completing them so that you can practice what you learn.

I think the course has a great balance between introducing concept/history and practical matters. The only difficulty I encountered is that it is sometimes assumed that the students have certain knowledge (I personally spent a lot more time on w6 Recursion than other weeks because I found some concepts/knowledge unfamiliar). Overall it's a great learning experience that gives learners exposure to a variety of aspects of programming.

Well taught course, with minimal spoon feeding once it gets moving. I would like more baby steps through the initial Intellij install, as it was aggravating before I saw the value of the course. Being reminded early on that we all make mistakes (forgetting ; and the like) and that unfortunately compilers don't work because we yell at them helped me deal with the inevitable frustrations that come about during programming.

Very very useful and helpful for people who is interest in programming and algorithms. Even for CS students who have already learned this. The programming assignments are nicely designed and the auto-grader is outstanding for debugging. After 30 days of learning, I completed this course. I'd like to say thank you to Prof. Sedgewick and Prof. Wayne for this inspiring, creative course.

Amazing course! It gives an opportunity to learn how to think about coding, how to approach real world problems and translate solutions into working programs in Java and other languages.

I sincerely enjoyed the course, especially video lectures and coding assignments, and plan to keep learning from professor Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne other courses on Cuorsera.

Thank you very much!

Lectures are a master-piece. Anyone who wood like to see a perfection in presentation of complex phenomena with such a modesty, clarity, simplicity but in the same time reflecting with deepness, this is THE course. The richness of argumentation with expressions can serve as a communication worldwide programming guideline.

Stay healthy dear professor.

I learned more by completing this course in a week compared to what I learned in 4 months time in one semester at my University 's introduction to computer science course. The programming assignments kept me engaged and were very fun. I would definitely recommend this course 10/10 would love to take up a course like this all over again.

This was an amazing course. The instructor demonstrates programs that can do incredible things yet are simple enough to fully understand from a ten minute lecture. The autograder is excellent and tells you exactly which failure modes your code has. The provided libraries make seemingly difficult tasks much simpler.