LM
Reviewed Sep 21, 2019
I liked this course very much. Good materials and perfect lecturers. Good structured and well explained material and interesting exercises ranging from very beginner to challenging.
Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose
The basis for education in the last millennium was “reading, writing, and arithmetic;” now it is reading, writing, and computing. Learning to program is an essential part of the education of every student, not just in the sciences and engineering, but in the arts, social sciences, and humanities, as well. Beyond direct applications, it is the first step in understanding the nature of computer science’s undeniable impact on the modern world. This course covers the first half of our book Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach (the second half is covered in our Coursera course Computer Science: Algorithms, Theory, and Machines). Our intent is to teach programming to those who need or want to learn it, in a scientific context. We begin by introducing basic programming elements such as variables, conditionals, loops, arrays, and I/O. Next, we turn to functions, introducing key concepts such as recursion, modular programming, and code reuse. Then, we present a modern introduction to object-oriented programming. We use the Java programming language and teach basic skills for computational problem solving that are applicable in many modern computing environments. Proficiency in Java is a goal, but we focus on fundamental concepts in programming, not Java per se. All the features of this course are available for free. People who are interested in digging deeper into the content may wish to obtain the textbook Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach (upon which the course is based) or to visit the website introcs.cs.princeton.edu for a wealth of additional material. This course does not offer a certificate upon completion.
Status: Theoretical Computer Science
Status: Object Oriented Programming (OOP)
BeginnerCourse88 hours
Featured reviews
GK
Reviewed Aug 22, 2020
I expected to review all java basics but found myself working hard with high level, challenging projects that set up a growing environment for me.
MA
Reviewed Dec 16, 2024
The 5th star is absent only because the course relies on custom libraries. Not that I'm against that (who am I to say Robert Sedgwick is wrong, right?), but it would have been good, no?
HT
Reviewed Nov 25, 2021
This is my first course in Coursera. If you are beginner, you should watch videos, read the booksite and the book that covering this course. It simply needs a lot of hard work !
SM
Reviewed Aug 15, 2020
This course was great for learning Java, but I believe it could have been better if it had covered the actual "computer science" aspect (like the anatomy of a computer, history of computing, etc.)
IH
Reviewed Oct 22, 2021
It's easy to follow. And all the programming tasks help me to understand the content better. It's an friendly CS course with amazingly high quality. Thank you Professor!
TG
Reviewed Dec 19, 2022
This course definitely improved my understanding of computer science topics and would recommend. I did find some of the assignments to be a little confusing as far was what they were expecting.
ME
Reviewed Mar 27, 2021
This course is very helpful and useful especially that i am in the field of teaching. While im learning my student also learning. Thank you! And Godbless!
SS
Reviewed Jul 24, 2025
Very good course. I learned a lot throughout the journey. It provided deep-dive knowledge, and the more I progressed, the more I understood complex concepts in depth.
PK
Reviewed Aug 6, 2023
This was a very great course to learn a powerful programming language, techniques used. This has changed my life for better and am looking forward to a career change into the programming world.
SL
Reviewed Sep 5, 2020
It was a beautiful course. I gained a ton of understanding of the structures of programming (especially OOP). And could become proficient in Java language, which is great.
DB
Reviewed Jul 23, 2020
Really fun and challenging exercises! Had a great time solving them. The book site a lot more interesting problems and students should check it out.