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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Python Programming by University of Pennsylvania

4.5
stars
1,046 ratings

About the Course

This course provides an introduction to programming and the Python language. Students are introduced to core programming concepts like data structures, conditionals, loops, variables, and functions. This course includes an overview of the various tools available for writing and running Python, and gets students coding quickly. It also provides hands-on coding exercises using commonly used data structures, writing custom functions, and reading and writing to files. This course may be more robust than some other introductory python courses, as it delves deeper into certain essential programming topics....

Top reviews

IN

Jun 29, 2023

All the contents are expressed direct and clear and no previous experience is needed, that's why I really enjoy this course. I would like to also understand Python comprehension lists in this course.

SB

Mar 26, 2021

Great explanations and lots of examples to follow on. The course built throughout so I had confidence in completing assignments though they were not easy. Great interaction in discussion forums.

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201 - 225 of 302 Reviews for Introduction to Python Programming

By Michael G

•

Apr 20, 2022

I'd like to echo some things said in other reviews:

1, this course is very fast and is mostly about learning python syntax and very basic programming concepts.

2, many of the lectures are very consise and straight forward.

3, the quizzes are relatively easy but I think its best to admit that to get a 100% you really need to use references outside of the course material to understand certain syntaxs and exceptions.

4, the assignments have an annoying and sudden difficulty spikes. these spikes are usually because the question prompts don't clearly explain what is being checked by the grader clearly and one of the prompts the grader gives doesn't work with your solution properly.

5, Assignment 4 is particularly difficult and has a massive difficultly spike. I found myself spending way longer playing with my code to make it work. and many of the future questions use prior answers to build their solution. this caused a few of my previous answers to have issues since new questions give prompts that my previous answers code didn't account for.

Overall though I think this course is excellent if you are already somewhat familar with basic programming and computer logic. it might however be a bit difficult for people who have never done any programming.

By Hamudi J

•

Sep 30, 2022

I've just finished week3 and I really like what I'm learning. This course, however, lacks one crucial element--solutions to assignements after you've completed the minimum to pass them. Why is that important? There are 2 reasons.

1. Even if the job of a programmer is to find out what's wrong with the code using the internet + trial and error, the job of a course is to teach us how to think about code and improve our thinking, which this course doesn't do.

2. There are multuple ways of solving each problem. Say, the student figures out one or two of them, but not the one which is required by the testing mechanism. The problem occurs when the next assignment requires you to use the solution that you haven't come up with. Then you start the next task with gaps in your knowldge that could be easily filled by the course creators.

Overall I don't mind the testing mechanism. It is designed to check for corner cases, so I do like the idea of adjusting my code so that it withstands all tests. However, I find it frustrating that I only need to rely on trial and error, as the course doesn't improve the way I think about code.

Despite all that, I still think the course is worthwhile and I'm looking forward to the last assignment.

By Iris L

•

Mar 20, 2022

This course is pretty doable if you pay close attention during the lectures or code-along-exercises. I find it helpful to think about the solution before continue watching it in the lecture (just pause and think first before seeing the answers). If you have some basic programming knowledge, it would become tremendously helpful. Otherwise, discussion in Forum is top-notch. I've been able to tackle all the assignments just by following the instructions and help from staff and the teacher. However, if you truly want to learn more and understand "why it works that way", as I do, I will recommend the course "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python" by MIT on edx. The course is very comprehensive and suitable for absolute beginners. There are many mini assignments between lectures to strengthen old topics before moving on to the new ones. I've been doing both courses at the same time. I like Python after taking these courses, to be honest. What an intuitive and helpful language! Good luck everyone! You will enjoy it!

By Theo R

•

Apr 22, 2021

Overall a great course, especially for beginners! If you have a little experience with programming you can easily knock this out in a week or two. The only issues with the course were:

1) the Jupyter Labs were down at one point for ~24 hours. Not a huge issue because I was ahead of schedule and I'm not super busy, but for someone on a tight schedule this would be very problematic.

2) Although the last homework assignment was effective, a few of the function requirements weren't exhaustive. It's fine if the student is meant to come up with some on their own, but that should be made clear -- if you're expecting all of the requirements to be explicitly outlined (because so far they have been), then it's frustrating when you realize something has been intentionally left out as a "gotcha". If that's not the intent, then add a note saying there could be additional requirements beyond the thought starters on each function

By Sarah S

•

Apr 15, 2022

The lectures were clear and coding demonstrations were really helpful. The homework assignments were challenging, but I felt like I really learned a lot through working on them. I just wish that questions about the HW would have been answered in a more prompt way. It would sometimes take several days for a reply to be posted, and sometimes the reply was very helpful (giving a good hint about how to fix a line of code) and sometimes the reply was too vague and unclear. In the latter case, if you asked for clarification, it would take another few days for the response to come.

By Tasmiya K

•

May 26, 2021

My course is still in progress, when i reached at the stage of quiz and assessment ... i was unable to sublit because i have not completeld the subscription rules

As i am from india, and a student persuing bachelor degree, and i am not earning yet. Due to lockdown in karnataka state of india our parents have no work to do an t is not possible for me to afford to complete this course by paying. So,please let me to access this course for free which will indeed helpme to add this certificate to resume

By Charisse W

•

Apr 30, 2022

THe course overall is great! The final assignment is the most difficulut and has infact been changed a few times since it's original creation. That being said I'd say the final assignement doesn't fully pull in everything you've learned in the final week and what's more is a bit too advanced and doesn't seem to fit like the other assignements. Moreover, if you're looking for achallenge but still consider yourself a beginner I'd recommend this course even if you wanted to just audit it.

By Siyuan M

•

Apr 12, 2022

Have done the Python for everybody and just completed this one. Honestly speaking, as everyone else pointed out, this course is not for a complete newbie to learn Python. I actually like the "short video" arrangmetn as I have difficulty in concentrating the long video. While all the previous assignments are quite easy and straightforward, the last assignment is ridicioulys long and complex for newbie and I guess it will deter a lot of folks to complete it.

By Yunyi S

•

Nov 5, 2022

It is a nice and probably easy course, but I am sure you would have fun with it. Not very friendly to beginners, since it includes many concepts but only limited exercise to help understand and be familiar with. Not very friendly to help build up programming thinking. Super nice faculty. I once failed to submit homework, and they gave me a response soon later.

By Alan R

•

Mar 31, 2021

A great introductory course to Python. There was issues with the instructions for the final week which cost some unnecessary lost time but this was later remedied. The only other problem I found was the slow response time for replies in the discussion forums. Apart from these small issues, I would highly recommend.

By Susan B

•

Jul 26, 2022

I suggest taking a slower, more paced out Python sequence before this course if you are a true beginner. If you have some experience, this is great practice. This class and the first week of the next class in the sequence have helped me get valuable practice with list comprehensions and lambda functions.

By Heather P

•

May 22, 2021

I enjoyed this course but I think it's best for a refresher vs. a beginner course. I highly recommend using supplementary material and really taking your time going through each lecture, quiz, and homework assignment. The course is challenging, but you will feel very accomplished after completing it!

By Adrian C

•

Jul 11, 2021

Excellent content and fantastic professor. Jupyter notebook absolutely sucks. I spent so much more time trying to fix minor spacing issues because Jupyter provides no assistant at all to those minute details, especially when pasting to/from another client. Otherwise, excellent.

By Anita L

•

Mar 1, 2021

Class ws excellent and I learned a lot about Python programming language and environments. I did struggle with the Jupiter automated testing process quite a bit though. The class should have a module that walks students through that process and how to debug their errors.

By woeful

•

Jan 8, 2023

Except for the part that the assignments were way harder than the things being taught from the videos, everything else was amazing, Python could have never gotten more easier but this course by Penn University is a go-to if your just starting out in Programming!

By Patrick R

•

Feb 14, 2021

This is a great class for coding practice, and the autograders are helpful and accurate. My biggest criticism is that there isn't much theory or background on principles, the course is very mechanical about how to code. If that's your goal, great class.

By Gary T

•

Sep 27, 2022

You definitely learn Python after taking this course, but in order to complete the homework assignments, I did rely on prior knowledge of PHP. Would not recommend this course for the absolute novice with no coding experience at all.

By Hasan J A

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Nov 7, 2021

jupyter notebook was a little hard to work on it, so problems should be shown a little bit better, and this tool has some problems.

but all remaining things was excellent ^_^.

And the professor was amazing.

thank you for you efforts.

By Shubhabrata G

•

Jun 27, 2022

It's a very good course to learn python , but this course is not for beginner as I had some basic knowledge of python I did not face problems but for someone who has no knowledge of python will face many problems.

By Lydia M

•

May 31, 2021

The course has intensive content which requires students to fully understand the previous sections in order to go to the next one. It also provides sound knowledge on the content that you learn.

By Luke H

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May 16, 2021

Final assignment on creating own bank is interesting and practical. Wish that the assignment explained things better though I managed to figure things out after struggling with it a little bit.

By Dr. P R K

•

Jul 20, 2023

I am happy to say thanks to the tutor and coursera platform for providing this opportunity. Personally i feel about the course is that assignments are quite difficult for beginners. Thank you

By Kerry C

•

Sep 17, 2022

Very good introductory course: the final assignment was sufficiently challenging that I had to visit the discussion forums and review online resources to assist with completion.

By Bharath L

•

Feb 10, 2022

The course content is well planned. Th assignments and discussion forums are outstanding. Would like to give 4.5/5 since I think the topics can be bit more explained thoroughly.

By YK H

•

May 17, 2023

It's just the beginning.

For those who are also interested in programming, in my opinion, CS50 is also a good choice for learning the intro.

HW3 and HW4 are pretty funny too.