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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) by University of Michigan

4.8
stars
229,642 ratings

About the Course

This course aims to teach everyone the basics of programming computers using Python. We cover the basics of how one constructs a program from a series of simple instructions in Python. 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. This course will cover Chapters 1-5 of the textbook “Python for Everybody”. Once a student completes this course, they will be ready to take more advanced programming courses. This course covers Python 3....
Highlights
High quality instructor

(1484 Reviews)

Introductory course

(4203 Reviews)

Top reviews

AB

Aug 23, 2020

Great introduction to Python and programming as a whole. Everything is broken down making it easy to understand. Had zero programming experience before and this class made it easy and fun to get into.

YN

Oct 14, 2017

This course is organized and explained very well. It is moderately challenging, and I recommend it to get interested in Python. The teacher and the assistant staff are very good. I enjoyed the course.

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301 - 325 of 10,000 Reviews for Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)

By Muktai K B

Oct 2, 2016

It was my first programming experience in my life!! I would like to honestly mention here that I had some doubts and insecurities about overall difficulty level and few other things of the " Learning Programming Languages" and whether I would be able to do it successfully or not sort of things. But I m very glad to state that this course really helped me a lot to get over this fear and to obtain an excellent grade. It guided me even how one should think while learning a programming language. Dr. Severance was more than helpful and kind to guide us during this whole learning process. I believe he has successfully understood the mindset of newbies and is encouraging. Overall, I feel very positive and I am going join next Course as well.

Thank you Coursera for all the facilities and thank you very very much Dr. Charles Severance for conducting this great course. Good luck!!

Mukta

By Myra R

Jan 15, 2021

I would like to be able to learn and obtain a list of all operators to develop skills in setting up an argument, for different applications. All in all, this was a great first experience. I wish there was more emphasis on the operators and how to use them through example, and emphases on opening statements and closing statements because learning indentations follow, and the book with an answer key would have helped. A student needs to develop the skill in seeing how these things work first and develop their own instead of creating a code from scratch... just my opinion based on the degree of difficulty I encountered in this course. Great job and thank you for allowing underserved students and professionals afford education through Coursera. Very grateful for this class, the instructor Mr. Severance, UM and Coursera for making learning during this pandemic possible.

By Benjamin S

May 14, 2020

I am a Junior pursuing a computer science degree at another university, but I figured I wouldn't be doing much Python in my degree and I wanted to use my skills to pursue a personal interest in data science. I found this first course to be a fantastic introduction to Python and a solid overview of Python specific syntax and 'quirks' (such as the emphasis on indentation), which is primarily the knowledge I was lacking as opposed to general programming concepts, which I was very familiar with. I can imagine that this course is extremely valuable for beginners, because the professor does a wonderful job of explaining some rather abstract programming concepts in an accessible, structured, and clear way. I also think he hints how certain practices are good coding habits and help with clarity and conciseness of code, which I also think is extremely useful for beginners.

By Debashish B

Aug 11, 2020

This course is a steppingstone of my interest in a programming language. Personally, I am not a fan of any programming languages. However, after browsing through many reviews, I thought to give it a try. Guess what! I was not disappointed. The course material is well organized, and I felt the instructor of this course is very knowledgeable. He has an immense idea about the struggle a student may face while learning this course. He literally making this course accessible for everyone. Generally, other online courses, instructors expect a student to have a prior background on the topics they are going to teach, which is not always the case. Sometimes, the course materials are difficult to understand as well. This course can be a perfect example for other online courses on how to present effectively a relatively difficult topic to the beginner students. Great job!

By Беха Т

Jul 24, 2019

I really enjoyed the course and found programming very exciting. The particularly exciting part was when I was able to apply what I learned, for example, I played around making programs to execute some physics formulas when some unknowns are inputted (I wish I had this knowledge last year my physics lab reports demanding the same calculations to be made repetitively would be considerably less time consuming).

It was relatively easy to complete the course not only because it's a beginner's course but also because it is thoroughly explained making it easy to follow so I didn't have moments when I was stuck in trying to understand something. Also, the python playground tasks were very helpful and I wish there were more of those. Since those tasks forced me to truly engage with python and learn how to use it. Regardless, I think the course deserves 5 stars.

By mit r

Jan 9, 2016

This is something really great and I appreciate all the efforts of the creators of that course, especially Dr. Charles Severance, who has an amazing ability of imparting his knowledge in a very colourful and enjoyable way, while fully substantively and clearly.

This is my first ever on-line course, and if the remaining parts are conducted in similar way, I am more than impatient to start it immediately. It is a pity, it is 3:54 AM... :)

And one more thing - this course as well as the book is indeed for the very beginners however with some ability of logical thinking (if you are not such a very beginner it will take just couple of days to finish it, as it was in my case).

So listen carefully what Dr. Chuck is saying, read the book, take look at the slides, and other available stuff and don't hesitate to start and don't give up if something goes wrong.

By noor

Jan 4, 2017

Awesome Class! I'm currently studying mechanical engineering but I want to work in more of a mechatronics position when I graduate so I decided to take this course as an introduction to programming. I am completely new to this area of study (before this course, the most "programming" I've done is in excel). As a novice, I like how easy the course was to follow. Other courses I have taken were too overwhelming - too much information was thrown at us at once. This course assumes you have no working knowledge of the subject and appropriately exposes you to the basics. I also loved the book; it was such an easy read. Sometimes not enough information was given in the chapter so you will need to look up supplemental material but all this is provided with the course. Dr. Chuck keeps the classes fun and interesting. You can tell he loves what he does.

By 夏子翮

Sep 2, 2024

The University of Michigan's Coursera course on Python programming is an exemplary introduction to the language. It begins with the fundamentals, meticulously guiding students through variables, conditional statements, functions, and loops. The professor's delivery is not only clear but also engaging, with a touch of humor that makes learning enjoyable. The course is designed to be accessible, ensuring that even beginners can grasp complex concepts with ease. The ample practical opportunities, including hands-on projects, are a testament to the course's commitment to applied learning. I wholeheartedly recommend this course with the highest marks for anyone looking to dive into the world of Python programming. It's a journey that starts with the basics and progresses to a level where you're equipped to tackle real-world programming challenges.

By Jennifer B

Oct 1, 2020

I'm a complete beginner at Python, (32 year old medical doctor) and I had lots of recommendations about how to learn and what courses. It is really hard to decide. I did take advantage of a free week of Dataquest but I have come back to Coursera and am now paying for the course. Some other platforms might look shiny but they build too quickly, if you are completely new at programming it really needs to be this simple because it's a hard skill to learn, and I also think the order of the lessons makes the most sense. Having the videos and the book is really helpful. I'm not planning on a career change, this is just for fun (although I also do medical research so I hope I will use it for that), so we'll see how far I get but I really hope "Dr Chuck" is proud of creating this. I'll be recommending it as the Python beginner course of choice.

By Thomas I

Jan 14, 2021

Fo someone whose last programming course was in 9th grade over half a century I found this to be a good intro course. It starts off easy and gradually becomes more complex. I found the last couple of assignments to be challenging but rewarding. If you find yourself stuck, looking over other students questions and responses to them from the tutors will reassure you that you're not alone, and may provide clues as to whether you are on the right track, and of course, it always help to read and refer to the book which is freely available online. I found "Dr. Chuck" to be an encouraging and engaging presence, who communicates enough of the material in his videos to give you a beginner's confidence but to complete the last couple of assignments, unless you have a natural gift for thinking like a programmer, it may helps to refer to the book.

By Siva L K N

May 2, 2019

It is a very nice course, easy to understand the basics and the logic of programming as well. I really liked the way the course is structured, it is easy for even those who are new to programming.

The course material is good and so are the lectures. I am postdoc in Cancer biology and I deal with a lot of Next gen. sequencing data. We collaborate with a group of Bioinformaticians but, it often takes ages to get the data analyzed. Another problem is that most of them are programmers or biostatisticians who do not understand the biology. So, I was looking for a course which will help me learn Python (the programming language used for Bio-data analysis) where being a biologist will give me an advantage and also save time.

This course was just perfect.

Thank you Team Py4e and especially to Prof. Severence

Best regards

Dr. Lahiri Kanth Nanduri

By Syed K

Dec 31, 2020

I enrolled in this course and completed the course. It is especially useful course for 21st century learners. The course contents, format and lecture delivery style are practical, concise, and clear. Anyone with basic English language, basic math (4 operators only = /, *, +, -) and basic computer skills can learn, enjoy, and successfully complete this course. By the way, Python itself is amazingly easy to learn/code programming language and at the same time it is powerful programming language. The course participants use to ask highly informative & useful questions on the forum and Dr. Charles’s teaching assistant Mr. Mihaela Mack use to provide timely supports and guidance. Dr. Charles, his teams & Coursera teams have made learning Python programming skills very modular and easy to understand, learn & code. Thanks a lot, everybody.

By rmlarocca@hotmail.com

Aug 3, 2023

This course is great. Take it.

I took it to determine whether or not I had the aptitude to continue on and enroll in a boot camp for Software Developers. I decided yes and just completed my boot camp with honors.

Professor "Snape" Severance is a great instructor for my style of learning and I found it to be well put together incorporating good instruction, course materials, practice, and hands-on application with the opportunity to really program and make things "work" or fail and be able to understand why and correct your mistakes by the included tutorials and instruction.

It does start off a little quickly and you may not understand exactly how to install everything right off the git go but just pause and google it if needed, Stack Overflow is a good result to go read or reach out for help here in the forums if anyone is around.

By Hao L

Jul 4, 2020

y4e is a great introductory level course and you will learn Python programming from scratch. This course not only opened the gate of Python programming for me but also enhanced my understanding of programming in general. I love the virtual face-to-face way that Coursera presents the course. The classroom-style learning environment they created, even if it is virtual, helps you concentrate better on the lecture and materials and be more efficient along the way of your learning. I really enjoy the way Dr. Chuck conveys the course content to the audiences. Dr. Chuck truly knows how to teach - he utilizes some unique teaching techniques and skills to make everything in the course content impressively easy to understand. This is a great course for beginners. I would recommend it to all my friends who are eager to learn Python.

By Abhishek

Jul 18, 2018

I really liked this course by prof. Charles Severence. He is really good at teaching. He uses humour to teach ya which is a good thing because u can study for hours without getting bored. The course needs a little introduction to any other programming language like C++ or C to learn this because what u gonna learn is new language which not many people know, it is new and quite complex than other languages(I mean programming languages XD). So, u need a base in which u r good enough to relate python to and understand the difference and complexity of python. In all, this is a very good course which u can take to become a pro in python. ADVICE:: Take python for everybody course only if u r a newbie to programming but in any case, if think that u know basics of any other programming language take the specialization one. TNX

By Christian S B

Dec 10, 2017

I have been self teaching myself programming for many years. But I have never really specialized in anything. It's always been a little knowledge here and there for various languages. The problem was that after time I would forget some important syntax for each of those languages. So I decided that I wanted to, for lack of a better word, "master" a language, and I decided on Python.

This course did very well at going over the basics, I thought I would blow through this first course and learn nothing since I have been programming for years, but it was wrong. Although I did blow through the course in a couple of days. The instructor

Charles Severance's way of explaining things has made me view the code differently, and has helped me write more efficiently as a result. I can't wait to get into the more advanced classes.

By Steve T

Dec 24, 2019

Excellent introduction to Python for me--someone with limited prior coding experience, but strong Excel and math backgrounds. I enjoyed the core and optional lectures and found them to provide excellent instruction on using Python. I would have liked more assignments which would help to reinforce the instruction and get the syntax locked in. I will probably try to find separate sources for getting the additional practice I need to achieve these objectives.

As a side note, one-third of my total course time was spent trying to figure out how to get atom to recognize Python. Evidently, it is a path issue which can be solved with defining a path with some code I don't understand or by checking a path box when you load Python. I figured out the latter and reloaded Python, but it was a lot of time spent on this issue.

By Putri P

Feb 5, 2017

Hello Professor!

Just wanted you to know that this course have helped me gain more confident as I am drop-out student who still struggles to compete with peers who has higher degree. Although I am blessed to obtain trust from the management to head a team in a multinational company, my insecurity sometimes does comes out and I still always feel people doubt my knowledge.

I have been wanting to learn to code for a very long time, but I always too scared to get started as a lot of programmers seems super smart and I thought I will never be like them. The way you introduce the course and all materials are entertaining & easy to digest/understand. Your lesson destroyed my belief that programming is scary.

I will continue this lesson as a challenge for myself and to prove myself that I can also program. Thank you again!

By FELIPE P G

Jul 4, 2022

Aprendí mucho, aunque sé que me falta mucha practica. Los conceptos fueron claros. Sé que hay que inconrporar otras disciplinas y seguir trabajando durante mucho más tiempo hasta que los conocimientos hagan parte de mi ser mismo. El profesor fué muy claro en sus conceptos. Es bueno saber que además, hay ayudas como manuales que complementan y aclaran los conceptos. Se necesita mucha constancia y dedicación en tiempo para completarlo. Y aún más importante, gusto por la programación, Aunque aveces dudaba de continuar, pero simplemente, me sentaba y comenzaba cada tema sin pensarlo. Muchas gracias y felicitaciones a la Universidad de Michigan, a Coursera, a CLARO, la empresa para la que trabajo y me dió también esta oportunidad y a todas las personas que hicieron posible que pudiera realizar este curso y disfrutarlo.

By Ashwin P

Dec 27, 2016

Great course to learn the basics of Python. Even though I had studied C and C++ earlier this was my first computer course as such. It gives you a good flavor of the way one should learn programming. Dr. Chuck's lectures are exceptionally interesting. I would however like to suggest that some non-graded worksheets could be provided in the duration of the course so that discussions may also take place in the forum. But the textbook provided has sufficient exercises and practice questions but arent discussed in the forums. Overall a very informative and interesting course and will definitely teach you enough to carry forward the knowledge to grasp higher and more complex concepts of programming especially with the help of the textbook that is provided with the course.

Thank you so much Professor. Im deeply grateful.

By Gaspar C

Aug 22, 2024

Este curso es una excelente introducción a la programación con Python. Como principiante, encontré el contenido muy accesible y fácil de seguir. El instructor, Dr. Chuck, explica los conceptos de manera clara y concisa, lo que hace que el aprendizaje sea mucho más ameno. Lo que más me gustó fue la estructura del curso: cada lección se basa en la anterior, permitiendo asimilar los conceptos de forma gradual sin sentirse abrumado. Además, las actividades prácticas me ayudaron a aplicar lo aprendido y a ganar confianza en mis habilidades de programación. La comunidad y los foros de discusión también son un gran recurso para resolver dudas y aprender de las experiencias de otros estudiantes. En general, recomiendo este curso a cualquier persona que quiera empezar a programar, incluso si no tiene experiencia previa.

By Christine B

Dec 29, 2020

This course was overall a great experience for me. I started with no programming experience and a very basic understanding of what Python was. Professor Severance is a wonderful instructor and his teaching style is one of the reasons I will continue on to the next course. The teaching staff that assists in the forums are responsive and helpful and I often found the assistance I needed for assignments just by going through different threads. The program is also very flexible with pace so if you're unsure or intimidated by the material, I encourage you to try it anyways. This course helped me to slow down and search for different solutions which will make me more detail-oriented, and more importantly, not feel discouraged/give up if I hit an error or cannot produce useful code on the first, second, or third go.

By Jorge A B B

Jul 11, 2020

I have programming background due to my BS in Digital Systems/Robotics, and this it is the most comprehensive introduction I've had to a programming language. Most of my courses, and teachers thought we had previous knowledge, even if it was an introductory course. That's why I recognize this course as the most basic way to enter a programming language, and anyone can grasp the concepts in this first course.

On the other hand, persons with previous knowledge like me, but with no knowledge of python is a good way to remember the simple things when you started. Also it helps you to slowly get to know the syntax, and you may finish the activities in record time due to you logical thinking of previous knowledge. Finally, gives you an idea on how to help introduce people with no previous knowledge to programming.

By Sourav B

Aug 17, 2016

Hello, I am glad that I am getting this course from one of the (Best) Author of Python Book. I am really happy with the contents & teaching style that made me so confident about coding in Python. Contents are helpful, discussion forum clarifies many doubts & the deep understanding of each module in this course make it a perfect choice for anyone to who even does not know 'A' of Python's Alphabet or of any coding language can start & learn to code. Good initiative by Author & Mentor. Please provide many such courses in near future so that we can learn best from Top University which is anyway not possible for students like us with financial problems! We learn many things from home & from Greatest University like in this case University of Michigan! Thanks for all work for making this course available online.

By Muhamed S O

Jul 18, 2020

It is a wonderful experience to have these kinds of lectures. Dr. Charles way of presentation of the content draws attention of all types of students according to me. It gives the student the idea of how a programming languages is taught in addition to learning the programming itself. As a teacher in the university level I am very thankful to Dr. Charles Severance, Coursera and University of Michigan for giving such an opportunity to learn how to teach Python rather than learning it.

The quizzes and assignments during the course are little bit challenging. Short videos make sure students attention. Students get opportunities for creating their own codes during assignments. I appreciate Dr Charles and his team for these.

I enjoyed it through out.

And one more thing, the 'try/except' is new to me. Thank you.