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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose by Princeton University

4.7
stars
1,339 ratings

About the Course

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....

Top reviews

NK

Jun 16, 2021

Can't wait to get into the second part of the course. The best programming course ever provided for free of cost. The techniques used are backed by mathematical thinking. It is just awesome.

JW

Nov 27, 2022

Very useful and helpful course for beginner in Java. I learned Python before and this course is much more difficult, but it does help a lot for you to step further into CS world.

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276 - 300 of 371 Reviews for Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose

By WILSON M

•

Jun 29, 2023

great course

By John O

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Apr 24, 2023

Great Course

By Anish S

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Sep 14, 2022

Good course

By Kiko S

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Jul 25, 2020

Excellent!!!

By Ram A S

•

May 26, 2025

good course

By Abdalrhman A M S

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Dec 12, 2023

Nice course

By sushant k

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Jul 6, 2022

Good course

By Sergio C

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Jul 5, 2022

Excellent!!

By Amandeep S

•

Mar 2, 2022

good course

By Ahsen H

•

Dec 28, 2024

Very good

By Manuel R

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Aug 1, 2023

Muy bueno

By anas m

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Dec 26, 2022

thank you

By Deleted A

•

Dec 21, 2022

very nice

By Belal F A M

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Dec 20, 2022

EXCELLENT

By Emin C

•

Dec 29, 2024

GOOD JOB

By lxl1986

•

Oct 24, 2019

elegant.

By Deleted A

•

Nov 20, 2025

saludos

By Walid T

•

Dec 25, 2022

awesome

By Deleted A

•

Jan 12, 2026

genial

By David A

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Aug 27, 2025

Great!

By SUBHA S C K

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Jun 10, 2024

Great

By bhadresh p

•

Feb 7, 2023

great

By Shams

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Dec 25, 2022

great

By Đỗ T H

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Jun 23, 2022

great

By Shinjini B (

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Jul 12, 2025

good