--

i

IF YOU'RE NEW TO PROGRAMMING, READ THIS. The course was helpful in getting started understanding the fundamentals of programming. However, what was waaaaay more helpful was the textbook written by the teachers of this course.

If you rely on this course alone to teach you anything, unless you already have an in-depth understanding of programming in another language, you will be completely lost. Honestly, I don't even understand how someone could pretend that this is a viable approach to learning programming. It's probably why I've failed at learning so many times before.

A much more helpful approach is to get the textbook, PRACTICAL PROGRAMMING - AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE USING PYTHON 3, and read the chapters before watching the videos. Almost all of the weeks of the course line up perfectly with the chapters of the textbook, so you don't have to read too far ahead. The course covers chapters 1-11, although not everything is covered. One other helpful trick is to look at the course documents for the week - they often show what chapter and section they are covering, so you can read that specific part before watching the videos.

I just finished the course and I am excited to finally have figured out how to get started on coding. Hoping and crossing fingers and toes that the second course in this series is as good as the first.

For someone who has absolutely no background on math, or anything programming. I DID IT AND SO CAN YOU.

-The course is taught in small chunks.

...I agree that Paul explains things a bit too fast, compared to Jen who really talks through each line of code. But use this as a time to really pause, and deconstruct the code for yourself.

-The quizzes were a little tough at times, but I learned so much from them.

...Make sure you read up on the textbook (free pdf) for guidance. I appreciate the freedom to redo quizzes and assignments, which helped me learn a lot while not feeling pressured or intimidated.

-The assignments were really fun to do.

...I learned so much from them, and it gave me freedom to code how I wanted to. The third assignment was tough, but in a satisfying way, when it all clicks.

-How I got the most out of my experience: I asked questions on the discussion forum, I used the rubber ducky technique to untangle my code, and I tinkered with python while learning the topics.

I learned a lot completing this course. However, the course went from 0-100 in week 5 and the video lectures reduce in time and the intermittent quizzes expect you to to look up things occasionally that weren't even mentioned in the lectures. The end-of-week assessments from week 5 onwards are MUCH harder than the previous weeks and treat you like a uni student, I.e they expect you to not rely on the videos. It will feel overwhelming and you may become frustrated at the course because of how much time you spend Googling things in order to piece together what you need to know. However, THAT IS WHAT PROGRAMMERS DO. It is an incredibly valuable skill to learn in it's own right, so do not underestimate that. If you are brand new to Python persists through this entire course YOU WILL DEFINITELY FEEL ACCOMPLISHED AT THE END! I do recommend this course, but be prepared to feel frustrated and uncomfortable. That said if you are comfortable, are you learning much?

Fair. I liked the lectures, though being non-native english speaking i had to look some termanology, as some of it was not explained futher than a brief staint of the right side of the page. Previous knowledge with MATLAB helped a lot, as I figured out a lot of the workings, but people starting from scratch might have more difficulties, as I struggled quite a bit with the read and write. I figure maybe it wouldn't be bad to have more throwbacks to previous stuff in the tests, as to really make it connect. Some of it sits pretty loosely in the memory.

But overall, I was quite happy with the course! I really liked the assignments - If anything, consider putting in a assignments at the end, that might be a bit bigger and incoorperates more different things from the various courses, and let the course-goer try out what they learned, and maybe have some tools for help, such that everyone walks away with the feeling of having "written a program" :)

This is the first full course I've taken on programming. As such, I cannot rate the course material as it relates to "real world" use of python for things like data analysis or web design or machine learning (obviously). My rating is reflective of the content and the material related to that content. I quizzes and assignments are challenging enough to get you branching out of the provided materials (i.e., using Stack Oveflow or GitHub or Python forums) to understand things. The mentor for the course was helpful without spoonfeeding information. I found the course to be challenging and rewarding to complete. I would have loved more supplemental materials and more thorough explanations of how things like loops are executed or explicit discussions about different ways to approach a task. In all, I feel like I learned a lot and am ready to take the follow up course.

This is a great place to start with python coding without any experience. I have a small comment for the organizers. It is very difficult to improve learning by way of the review of quizzes as they stand. It only says if it was right or wrong; you can't even see the available answers, or what input was provided. Understanding that it is undesirable to simply give the answer as the question may be recycled in subsequent attempts, if feedback were to be provided explaining why an answer was wrong, it would be far more meaningful. This would be particularly helpful with the written answers where one is left to wonder if it is a simple syntax error, or something grosser. For the multi-answer questions that are wrong, giving partial credit would also be better guidance so you know that you answer is incomplete, rather than wrong.

I am a beginner to programming. I took longer than the stated time to complete all the assignments and quizzes. On the second and third attempts i came closer to the stated time. Some of the questions in the assignment, quizzes and exam are not clear. This led to more or unnecessary time to complete these sections.

Overall I learned a lot and my speed started to increase as I grasped the fundamentals of programming and data structures. It would be great if their are additional or optional assignments that are available to do. I find that learning is greatly enhance and reinforced when I am able to apply the knowledge and skills.

Also, I purchased the book. It would be great if there were suggestions for the next steps to continue in reading the book.

Thank you

I feel that this course was a great benefit to me in my understanding of the new language I am learning in Python. I would say that the first 4-5 weeks I was able to follow everything to a good degree, and weeks after that I seemed to not be applying some of the ideas and it was taking me a few attempts to pass the assessments. Is this course suited for beginners? I would say yes, this is because the early weeks are achievable and I picked the ideas up having no previous experience with the language. The later weeks you need to apply and combine various things you see in the readings and videos for that week, but they are all there, keep IDLE open and test what you can, it is the only way that you will find out.

I like how this course provides examples and online textbook for each concept of fundamental coding or python. Also, love the female instructor's explanation, the speed is relative slow and easy to comprehend. However, I do not think is course is an easy or very approachable course for people who have zero coding experience to begin with. Comparing this course with U of Michigan's PY4E, this course this more difficult, especially for the design of homework. The week 2's homework is already hard enough for people who never use code to start with. Therefore, I think if anyone is looking for start for programming or python, PY4E is a better course to consider with.

I started learning programming two years ago and are constantly looking for ways to improve my skills. In my search to good resources, this is one of them.

I found this course good because it focused on the building blocks for learning to code. It thoroughly explains the different datatypes, loops, functions/definitions, how the interpreter works and how to build a functional program.

This said, I believe that there exists better courses / books / tutorials if you have absolutely no experience in programming. If you have some experience in python or from another language, than this is a good course.

Cheers and enjoy learningl

Course was really great, I highly recommend it. I would give it five stars, but I had two technical issues. 1: On mobile devices, the short quizzes that pop up during lectures don't function correctly - instead of just asking the questions that relate to the topic that was just discussed and then moving on with the lecture, the quiz asks ALL the questions (including those on topics not yet discussed). 2: there is a formatting problem in the quizzes that shows the unicode hex for the apostrophe (') instead of ' - which is very distracting when working with strings. These seem like easy fixes.

Thank you for your efforts in creating and maintaining this course and its material; I have no comments per se but if I must then I will mention that I have been following other courses as well (I am a beginner) and they cover subjects that are not covered in here (eg. Classes). I understand that this course if for the learning the fundamentals of Python only, but it would have been great to learn about Classes, among other subjects, within this course, I believe it would have made a bigger impact on me as a beginner student. Thank you again.

Overall it's a great course for anyone who's new to programming and wants to start with Python. I wish they would include more complex examples in the lecture videos vs. spending a lot of time on repetitive commands. The assignments were the best way to learn, much better than the quizzes, hence I'd recommend adding another assignment, perhaps a final assignment. Finally it's really great the lecture summaries are provided after every video. Using the python colors instead of simple black and white would make them even greater.

Pro : 1. Instructors explained the fundamentals in details.

2. The lessons are concise and with just enough information.

Con : 1. This course is not updated to the latest Python 3.5 (even in 2016).

2. Many solutions of the quizzes should be explained afterward.

3. The lack of interactions between students due to the "design limit" of Coursera.org

Overall : A decent fundamental course to help step into Python 3 programming and computer science.

I like this course very much because of practical approach. As I had some programming experiences in the past this course was an opportunity for me to recall some knowledge. I think this course could be difficult task for real beginners. There were some questions or excursuses which I think require better and precise explanation. Time I spend was worth it and now I am planning to go into next courses - Data Science with Python i.e.

I think that this course is fantastic for newcomers and that the moderators and lecturers are very patient and kind to go through all the queries raised by the student. Lessons are short and sweet so it is easy to pick up. However, quizzes should be designed with a lesser steep curve and give students more chances to practice rather than throwing us into the fray. An overall enjoyable experience to cap off after a long working day.

Estoy entusiasmado y viendo la planificacion curricular del curso me motiva aun mas en aprender contenidos apropiados para desempeñarme con las habilidades competentes en este nuevo y bonito futuro trabajo. No le dí de momento las 5 estrellas ya que no puedo pagar por otro medio que no sea paypal con tarjeta de credito. Yo cuento con saldo suficiente en paypal para pagar el certificado.

Gracias y a estudiar. Renato Salvatore

Excellent introductory course to Python Programming. If I could suggest one upgrade, it would be to set more challenging tests and assignments. Also to include explained solutions to tests and quizzes, because sometimes one is left wondering about it and, although is great to figure it out by yourself, sometimes it takes too long while you need to go on with videos (and worst of all, sometimes it was just a typing error!).

I wish the course offered more scripting assignments. The videos were very informative, but I would have like to have more hands on scripting practice. I thought the course was a very well structured introduction. I learned so much about the basics of python, and I think that my understanding of how to write scripts in python execute has grown tremendously. Also, the python visualizer is a great tool! Thanks so much!

I have received my certificate before I was able to improve my marks in the last quiz and final exam! I thought this part would be treated like the parts before with the possibility to improve...

The certificate does not say in which language I have learned the fundamentals to program. For 40 Euros I think I can expect that.

Apart from that I was very satisfied with the course itself and the help I got.

Michael Peters

Design of the assignments could use some improvements. If you fail assignments the first time, I suggest only the parts that you made errors in be re-evaluated not the whole assignment from the beginning.

Also instructors should put more time in getting ready so that they don't make so many errors while teaching the course.

Also, sometimes, the audio has problems and it's hard to understand.

But overall a good course.

This course was great for me as a beginner. It started fairly easy and then became more challenging, which was nice as I was not too familiar with Python. When needed, feedback in forums was there and the instructors were great at responding within a day. I did find that I got lost on some problems since the path of least resistance was trial and error but instructors always guided me back to the fundamentals!

Great teaching! Lectures were very well delivered. Loved the short quizzes in the middle of lectures plus the ones at the end.

Assignments were challenging but doable. Following the discussions on the Forum was extremely rewarding, thanks to good contributions by students and prompt replies from Patric (mentor). Came to the program with no background in programming and completed the course well in time.