Dr. Chuck is the most encouraging and entertaining teacher I have ever met!!! He really makes learning about computer and programming easy and fun! And he makes a great Prof. Snape impersonation! :-)

Most importantly, Dr. Chuck intentionally included many mistakes in his teaching materials. As a self-taught programmer who has struggled on one's own, I believe this is the most valuable part of the lectures. The students get to understand from the very beginning how to read error messages and tracebacks, how to debug, how not to be intimidated by mistakes and failures, and how to become a confident programmer. This should be THE teaching model for programming in any language!

Thank you, Dr. Chuck! And I look forward to learning more from you in our follow-up courses!

This is an excellent beginner's course. The teacher Charles Severance is amazing. This was my first MOOC and I am glad it was this one. I had self-taught myself a bit of programming earlier so none of the material came as a complete surprise, but I am sure even beginners can follow everything very easily. I plan to complete the entire specialisation based on my experience with this course. The only gripe I have is that because I was auditing the course I could not see all the assignments. I can understand not getting graded or provided a certificate if I am not paying for it, but at least I should be able to see the assignments and solve it on my own. Right now I can only see the quizzes but not the programming assignments. Highly recommended course!

Wonderful coursera course by Prof Charles Severance (a.k.a. Dr Chuck). He speaks clearly, explains well, draws well, and is very witty too ! ( Wearing a soft-felt floppy hat to emphasis quirky Python syntax). Altogether Dr Chuck is a very engaging and instructor who makes learning fun. His assignments are also well-designed, especially those in the Auto-Grader (full of trick questions which I had to keep trying before I hit on the right answers when I saw through the "tricks" which made me chuckle) I am very happy that Dr Chuck is my instructor for my first coursera course which rekindles my joy in learning. I will continue learning programme online, because my first online programming course is very well-taught by Dr Chuck. Thank you very much, Dr Chuck !

A really good place to start learning about programming. Simple, precise and easy to implement. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn programming / python (w/o any background in programming) or someone who wants to start learning more about how we can use programming languages like Python as an effective and efficient tool for data analysis. If you are looking for motivation to commit to learning more about programming , data analysis / to understand importance of being competent in programming and dabbling in tech related studies - just watch (especially the last few minutes of) the Bonus videos in Week 5 Interview wirh Massimo Banzi: The Arduino and Week 2 Interview with Eben Upton: The RaspBerry Pi. Thanks a lot Dr. Chuck and team!

Finally made programming "click" for me after trying several courses. I feel very, very enthusiastic about this course. I would recommend this to anyone who is computer literate enough to be studying online in the first place. Dr. Charles Severance is an expert in the subject (as far as my newbie self can tell) and he is clearly, beyond the shadow of a doubt, an expert in the delivery of this sort of complex material in a way that beginners can understand. He is also charismatic enough to be pleasant to watch, which matters since most of the course are videos of him talking.

Besides being easy to understand, the material becomes useful and real-world applicable marvelously quickly. This is really a phenomenal course. I highly, highly recommend it.

I liked the course.

I did it very fast as I do have a programming background.

I liked the lecturer and the way of how the lectures material was provided. However, the course could have been improved if some extra materials like code listings or some stuff like "python reserved words" chart were saved and available along with the video materials.

You can find all of these in internet or while reviewing the video materials for sure, however once you have to recall smth from the course very fast - you have to either go through video or go through google. It is not a problem, it is just some kind of UX flaws as of me.

In general, I liked the course and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to feel the taste of programming in Python. Thanks!

Carecía absolutamente de cualquier conocimiento relacionado con la programación y este curso me ha permitido acceder de un modo sencillo y muy divertido a los primeros conceptos de un lenguaje informático, de modo que una vez concluidos los 5 primeros temas, por fin comprendo, a grandes rasgos, el funcionamiento de un programa y alcanzo a vislumbrar con mayor precisión la complejidad que entraña el desarrollo de las instrucciones necesarias para su correcto funcionamiento.

Lo cierto es que muero de ganas por seguir aprendiendo más y más, me gustaría dejar constancia de mis mas sincero agradecimiento a las personas que han hecho posible este curso y a todos aquellos que se han molestado en poder facilitar el material didáctico para su estudio.

People use Python for many purposes: to make games, build web services, to solve business problems, to work with sensors, drivers and robots. Python is also used heavily in scientific fields for academic research and applied work.

Python is an incredibly efficient language: your programs will do more in fewer lines of code than many other languages would require.

Py4inf and Python explained by C. Servance, is a great developing of the foundations in programming (first two courses) that will serve you well for the rest of your life, as well as a course that will give you a sort of try to understanding of what great things python can do for you.

I strongly recommend this course for anybody, who wants to start with informatics.

I really enjoyed this course. The material was well organised and the video lectures interesting and engaging. The course is an introduction to Python and as such it is suitable for beginners, even those with limited previous programming experience such as myself. Dr Severance is very good at explaining the contents and illustrating the theory with simple and clear examples. Something that I liked as well is the free eBook made available by Dr. Severance that covers pretty much the contents of the entire specialization. I also enjoyed additional videos made available containing interviews with famous IT professionals such as Pooja Sankar, Massimo Banzi (the inventor of Arduino) and especially Guido van Rossum, the inventor of Python.

Prof. Charles Severance is one of the most awesome professors I've learnt from. He teaches extremely well, adds a Dr. Chuck touch to it with his impeccable sense of humor, and gets his message through to us students. (AND.. I absolutely love Snape; may Alan Rickman's soul rest in peace).

I am looking forward to the next part of Programming for Everybody (with Data Structures in Python). The thing I appreciate most about this course is that it is completely open to all, from the quizzes and grading to all the course material. This way, people like me can learn happily learn such in-demand subjects & programming languages, without having to worry about paying a fee. I would like to extend a sincere thanks to you all for the same.

I have tried to take a few of the free online courses in Python and none compare to the teaching methods of this course. It moves so eloquently that anyone can learn Python through this course, even me. It does not jump to long confusing lines of code or randomly introduce functions/features not discussed. Rather, it sticks to small lines of code to get the point across until you are comfortable with it. the tools achieved in this course are valuable for anyone in any field needed to analyze and/or manipulate data. I have recommended this course to friends and family attempting to learn. Thank you so much Dr. Severance!

Note - If you are already familiar with Python this course would not be worth while; it is a beginner course.

A very solid and useful course for anyone interested in learning about programming in general. The professor is very engaging and quite easy to follow, he has an amazing way of explaining things and making everything look so interesting. The online book that accompanies the course is also very well-written, and is a welcome addition to the already informative video lectures.

The only drawback I might add is that the course is very simple for experienced programmers that want to get an introduction to Python. I believe though that the next courses in the specialization will cover more advanced topics, and that sacrifice had to be made since it is after all an introductory course aimed at people with zero programming experience.

it was a great course. Mr. Chuck, knows how to teach quality material to the masses. i would only suggest that on the programming assignments, it would be best if the instructor doesn't write half of the code. one reason is that having some of the code written would make that student think that the piece of code provided must be a part of the whole code. and as i worked on the programming assignments i realized that much of the code provided wasn't needed, in fact it took me longer than necessary to solve the assignments because i kept using the code provided, and upon solving the assignment none of the code that was provided was a part of the code i wrote. ....

on to the next course. Data Structure.

thank you coursera and UM.

This course was a very nice introduction to programming in Python and it helped me understanding the way we should think in order to program successfully. The material provided is clear and well-organized, and the teacher is very good. Moreover, the step-by-step assignments are very useful as they make you open your mind in a gradual and confident way. When I was at university, where I attended some preliminary courses about other programming languages, it often happened that the level required in the exercises was instead too high with respect to the material provided during the lectures. Summing up, I really appreciated this first course, although I would suggest to add some other assignment to practice a little bit more.

The professor made the content easy to understand. As a beginner, this course introduces programming in a very thoughtful way. It keeps me focus on the right things so that I did not get freaked out at the beginning when the working environment looks very different from the experience of an end-user. And it step by step build up my understanding in programming elements. I signed up this course with rather strong motivation (my ultimate goal is to run statistical simulation and develop statistic packages for other users), so when I see the course introducing the elements I did not understand at all before, I can see the power behind those programming building blocks. Hence, this course really made me wanting to program more!

This course gives a great foundation for understanding how to synthesize and read basic Python code and functions. It sets you up for learning how to work with data in the following course. I am a GIS student currently in a Geocomputation class with a massive learning curve of experience with coding/compsci, GIS, web development and so forth. Going into geocomp with this foundation was a lifesaver and the only reason I can follow along in class. Charles Severance explains things in a way that even complete novices (me) can understand. The worked exercises videos were a great help when I got stuck. I've referenced these videos for my class multiple times. I find it valuable that the skills I've learned are so transferable.

Python is not my first programming language, so for me this course was mostly about learning Python syntax and semantics, getting prepared for the next courses in the same Python specialization (working with data structures, etc). I really enjoyed the course, especially the way Dr. Chuck explains the attitude you should approach programming with; it's also nice that the lectures have a bit of personal touch, not only the dry material, but also interesting interviews, videos of office hours, introduction of the university of Michigan, fun moments and other: it all makes you feel you are present in the classroom with the lecturer. Overall, very happy with my first Coursera course and can't wait to proceed to the next one!

I finished this course faster than expected with no prior knowledge about programming and I recommend it for anybody who wants to start with programming as it is very well structured with many helpful videos and step-by-step instructions on how to start programming in Python 3.0 and quickly understand the fundamentals of coding.Tip1: Buy the papercopy of the book too and read there all the extra bits as it will come really helpful later (for quick search just use the free pdf of the same book).Tip2: Write down in your text editor all the codes and try to run-test every example to faster understand how things work and don´t be afraid to ask for help as it will just speed up the learning process.Totally recommend! :)

Learning the basics of programming computers using Python has been fun in the past few weeks. Though I wasn't completely new to Python and programming as such, it was an exciting experience being though the nitty-gritty details that make the knowledge stronger.

Charles Russell Severance (Ph.D.) of the prestigious University of Michigan made brought it down as low as it could get in order to build a firm foundation in programming.

I will recommend this course to anyone who needs to dive into programming and contemplating where to start from. The course has no pre-requisites and avoids all but the simplest mathematics. Anyone with moderate computer experience should be able to master the materials in this course.

For those who all are thinking of how and where to start learning Python, this is the right place. This introductory course is excellent course. I hope i need not say that a course don't become excellent on its own it need people to make it excellent and Prof. Charles and his team have indeed done an excellent job.

I wish to continue learning with Prof. Charles and am looking forward for the advance my learning of Python and if possible other programming languages.

This is the best time to be alive for those who want to continously learn and advance in life, thanks to platform like Coursera and the people involved in their mission to bring this vast amount to knowledge to the general public at large.

Thank you

This course is a well-introduced course for all ages and professions. With the modern world expanding and discoveries made every day, its important that people understand some form of computer science or programming. The teacher, Charles Severance, stresses this point as this course is ONLY centered toward future programmers or rather as common people and professions from astronauts to bankers through a variety of puns, jokes, and fun music. Overall, this course is very helpful and impactful, as the instruction is very thorough and simple with LITTLE AMOUNTS OF TIME REQUIRED. By the end of this course, one with completely no background with programming should be sufficient in creating his or her own program.

I started Coursera with a course in AI and Machine learning only to find out that I was in way over my head. realizing I needed some basic programming skills, I headed over to this course knowing that Python is one of the most use languages right now in programming. As a non-programmer/software engineer-type, this has been an amazing course. Dr. Chuck breaks things down for the average person so you can start understanding how things are done but also WHY they are done (which is more important in the beginning IMO). I'm now walking through the entire section (6 courses) with the end goal to make it back to that AI and Machine learning course and understand it far better. Thanks, Coursera! (and Dr Chuck!)

Really an exceptional course. Instructor did a great job, and by taking good notes I managed to complete every assignment on my own, without help - which is unusual for online courses. The automated graded system is accurate but brutally exact, so be careful when submitting because something as simple as an extra space in one of the responses is enough to trigger an error (but fortunately usually very easy to fix). Another perk is that for people coming from a background in R, like myself, the latest version of Python - 3 - is closer to R than previous versions in terms of syntax, so it's a pretty easy transition. For everybody else this is a great starting point. Highly recommend this course!

This course is very useful and astonishing for people who are starting or want to start programming on Python. It contains basic information and does not require any knowledge about programming. So, classes are brilliant for beginners! Furthermore, Dr. Chuck is a significant teacher and his lectures are able to inspire almost anybody. Additional materials inside the course are interesting and give listener an opportunity to think about programming in general, about an essential role of programming in modern age of technology. Exercises are exciting and helpful. I am strongly recommending this course for everybody who wants to get started with programming or just get new useful skills.

First Time A Programming Course is This Interesting!

Most of my previous tries to learn Python have hit a dead end as at some point, I lost interest. I felt that the previous courses I had taken before were talking to someone behind me. In some cases, the course was too easy. It left no room to think. Some times, the courses were too hard. As in, the instructor teach something very easy and expect you to do something 10x hard.

This course was of the right pace. Dr. Charles Severance gives you all the tools you need. I felt like riding the "Python bike". I fell, yes, but knew what to do to do better next try. Thanks a lot to the course! Will definitely continue with the rest of the modules. . .