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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Learn to Program: The Fundamentals by University of Toronto

4.7
stars
6,359 ratings

About the Course

Behind every mouse click and touch-screen tap, there is a computer program that makes things happen. This course introduces the fundamental building blocks of programming and teaches you how to write fun and useful programs using the Python language....

Top reviews

PC

Jun 4, 2021

Well taught, assignemnts are just right in complexity, its hard enough to no be easy and but not to be frustrating and tests challange your knowledge enough for it to be rewarding to complete with 80%

HA

Aug 17, 2019

Great for a fundamental course. I have to admit that I had learnt python a few years back and was using this as a practice and revision course. But I learnt a lot more which I can add to my knowledge.

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126 - 150 of 1,842 Reviews for Learn to Program: The Fundamentals

By Leonard L

May 5, 2020

Have started and stopped various online courses in the past, and after reading up online for recommended courses to take; chose this program and was able to get through this course within 5 weeks - thoroughly enjoyed the course, it was well paced and the assignments and quizzes were suitably challenging and felt accomplished after completing them; and appreciate the active responses on the forums to my questions. There were times where the videos could have gone slightly faster in pace, but all in all; I highly recommend the course and will be looking to continue to the Crafting Quality Code program next.

By Debarghya R

Oct 18, 2021

THIS COURSE IS JUST PERFECT TO BOOST ONE'S PYTHON SKILLS, SOLIDIFY ONE'S PYTHON FOUNDATION. I RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL PYTHON BEGINNERS LIKE MYSELF. THE SIMPLICITY IN THE LANGUAGE TO THE NUMBER OF TOPICS COVERED, THIS COURSE IS THE BEST TO LEARN THE BASICS OF THE LANGUAGE EASILY. ADDITIONALLY, THE ASSIGNMENTS AND THE QUIZZES ENABLE THE STUDENT TO PRACTICE EACH AND EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR LEARNING AND ALSO DEVELOP THE PROGRAMMING AND THINKING SKILLS AND ABILITIES. MOREOVER, IF YOU ARE A PYTHON BEGINNER OR WANT TO REVISE YOUR PYTHON BASICS, YOU HAVE TO GO FOR THIS COURSE. THIS COURSE IS MUST FOR YOU!

By 曾田

Feb 24, 2018

It really helps me to have a preliminary understanding of Python,and now I know how to write a simple program by myself, in the future I will continue to learn Python and hope to make a great progress in this field,even though I major in Civil Engineering, I like computer programing,so I do really appreciate the University of Toronto for their selfish share and the teachers for the hard work they have done. And I know Jordan Peterson is a psychological professor in the U of T, I have seen his public debate with a host, I really admire his rationality.Hah~~ That's all!

By Marjana S

Dec 30, 2017

I loved this course! It wasn't too easy, the assignments made me cry, break my head, workout, pray a little bit. But the joy of finally getting it right is worth it all. I learnt a lot from this course and would recommend it to people just getting started. I had no experience with Python at all (just basic HTML and CSS) but just stick with it and get the textbook. Also, the discussion forums are amazing and everyone should use them. The mentors always get back in time and are helpful in the way they explain without giving away the answer. On to the next course for me!

By Thuan M

Oct 16, 2017

Great class on fundamental programming. This course teaches the student programming even if one does not have a background at all in programming, let alone Python. The instructors try to drive home the process of a programmer and how important it is to understand, not only what an expression or operation does, but also why and how Python computes lines of code the way it does. The quizzes are fair and balanced and the assessments apply the week's materials effectively. Highly recommended for a beginner in Python even with some programming experience.

By Cameron F

Jan 9, 2021

I found this course very useful as an educational resource! I am doing a few other programming courses and found that, unlike most programming courses, it was more than possible to complete this course based solely on the resources provided. Often with other courses I spend a lot of time researching topics that are skimmed over. The only think missing is some information on possible IDEs and REPLs to use, but I just used REPL.it which wasn't hard to find and that was more than enough for practicing and doing my own projects to supplement learning.

By Artem D

Jul 31, 2018

Very good course!

Very usefull from fundamental point of knowledge. You'll build basics of 'how to create BEAUTIFUL code'.

I've took it after having some practice in python. So I've completed it really fast. 100% wort it!

Thank you a lot! Will join the second part tomorrow.

P.S. Before entering this course I've already passed another one (Russian course on Stepik by Bioinformatics Institute) + completed additional practice excersises (pythontutor.ru).

Highly recommed to take these for further or advance practice for Russian students.

By Steve H

Jan 25, 2019

This course was amazing. The instructors did a great job of introducing new facts in a clear and very understandable way. The in-video questions were a great addition and ensured you were following the concepts they had just presented. As well, the quizzes and assignments consolidated what you had just learned - it was great to get immediate feedback on how you were doing. I knew nothing about Python before and took this course as an intro to going deeper into machine learning. This was definitely a great step.

By AJ

Jun 25, 2020

This is the best intro python class I have ever seen. I've tried to learn python on and off for a few years and each class I took ended up moving too fast at certain points and I eventually quit. This class has the perfect balance of being challenging enough to require some thought but also being doable and achievable. I especially loved the function design recipe that is taught early on. I have not seen any course that teaches this structured approach to designing functions. That is a skill I will never forget.

By Alex Y

May 7, 2017

This course is excellent for beginner. The concepts in the video is clearly delivered and the quiz and assignments are very well created to make you think and fill in the gaps which the videos intentionally left out. I particularly like this arrangement, because it actually make us think more and reinforce what we have learnt in the lecture. Everytime I think I have learnt it all through the lecture, I found myself still learn ing a lot more after the assignment. Thanks for making this amazing course.

By Craig H

Oct 27, 2023

I took this course on to learn specifically about Python with focus more on syntax and techniques. I thought it would be easy given that I already know about programming but to my pleasant surprise I found the course quite challenging and insightful. I feel like I have a far better understanding of computer programming as a whole and not just Python. I wish to thank Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries for their effort in putting this course together. Your lectures and notes have helped me a great deal.

By Michał B

May 17, 2018

Everything clearly explained, the assignments are strong advantage of this course. After watching a video it's possible to read everything once again, as almost every lecture (besides only 2 of them) is also prepared in the written form. I recommend to attend this course along with their book, marked as "optional reading" - then it'll take a bit longer to complete this course, but this book covers also another aspects (17 sections with excercises for each). Wish they'd do something for Java and SQL!

By Alejandra D B

Mar 20, 2023

The explanations are very clear and the lessons well organized. It is indeed only the fundamentals but gives you a good foundation to continue learning on your own. I did have previous experience programming in other languages, so I don't know if this is suitable for absolute beginers (I would think so, but cannot assure). I liked the way the programming assessments were designed, they were very well structured and guided. The mentor is also very helpful and quick to respond. I enjoyed the course.

By Joshua H

Apr 10, 2019

I really enjoyed the forum help with Dr. Patrick, and the video lessons and the professors are great. I like how they explained everything, and how you could follow along. I also like the way it's laid out, as it made it easy to learn. I am glad you can do the quizzes and assignments multiple times, as it allows you to learn from your own mistakes, which makes the lessons better understood. Thank you, I am glad I was able to take this course, especially from my computer located in Michigan.

By Andrew S

May 25, 2020

I've tried self-teaching programming 3 times over the past 3 years. Always faltering, either because I was not committed, I didn't understand the reason for all the syntax, or the course difficulty was too steep/flat.

This is Goldilock's (me) pace & difficulty if you're a beginner, and most importantly, it gave me the confidence to continue learning and building on my own. I'm progressing to harder courses now, but I will always remember and recommend this course as the impetus.

Thank you!

By Ismael C S

Apr 16, 2020

This course taught me a lot because since I finished my bachelor studies I didn't use any pragramming language and it helped me to remind features and concepts, among others.

As a lot of people said in other opinions, this course isn't intended for beginners because in advanced lectures I had to look for info/help in the inner course forums or in the internet.

I missed some optional exercices for each lectures to give an extra knowledge but in a general view I recommend this course!

By Екатерина А М

Apr 5, 2020

Many thanks to Paul and Jennifer!

It was a pleasure to me every time I started a new week. The course materials and lectures are well-organised and simply explained. And also I liked little features I learned about Python. The Assignments were really practice-oriented. I believe it was the best way for me to learn how to write a program (design steps & many advices & everything step-by-step).

It was the first course I made till the end. Definitely one of the best courses on Python.

By Julio

Oct 23, 2022

This course is pretty cool and useful. Both teachers are awesome and explain all the concepts clearly. What I liked the most was that the assignments and quizzes pushed you to think out of the box with the basics taught. In other words, they helped you think as a programmer and apply the basics in different ways. Computational thinking is so important. It is not just to learn "a" to produce "a". This course teaches you about "a", and pushes you to produce "b" and "c" using "a".

By Hugo E J R

Sep 2, 2019

A very good course

I think it accomplishes with its purpose and covers the most important elements about Python and programming.

All the information and modules have clear and neat organization and it's really easy to follow the lessons and complete the assigments and tests.

The assigments themselves are very challenging and push the students to use the knowledge aquired in the lessons and lectures.

Overall, I am very happy with this course and I would defintely recommend it.

By Robert F

Oct 18, 2017

Amazing course. I had no experience in coding and haven't used real maths in 10 years. The first 2-3 weeks were a bit more frustrating than the rest of the course with the expected steeper learning curve, but the satisfaction for completing feels amazing. They way they teach, along with the platform itself is incredible, I'm genuinely shocked how much I was able to pick up in the time that I did - feels like a perfect intro to programming concepts and practical experience.

By Frank L

Aug 29, 2020

Really like the short lecture, quiz, and assignment structure. well organized, presented, and illustrated. The quizzes and assignments are also good components to enhance the learning. You have multiple or unlimited chances to get the quiz and assignment right. This is good for serious learners. The only unsure thing is in the quiz feedback, you don't see your original answer, though you could copy / paste it by yourself. This is not necessarily negative.

By Jonathon M

Mar 13, 2021

This course was a fantastic and very accessible introduction to Python, including basic functions and syntax. The instructors were clear and easy to understand in the videos, and the forums/discussion boards and supporting instructors were extremely helpful. The quizzes and assignments were also fair but comprehensive. I would highly recommend this course for anyone interested in learning Python from scratch who doesn't have any programming experience.

By Daniel G T

Mar 2, 2018

El curso proporciona una base fundamental para programar en python. Lo que mas valoro del mismo es su perfecta dificultad, ya que los exámenes y prácticas resultan dificiles y retadoras pero no frustrantes. Además el presente curso también enseña la dinámica fundamental de lo que consiste la programación teniendo que encontrar soluciones creativas a los diferentes ejercicios planteados partiendo una gran cantidad de recursos suministrados por el mismo.

By Zhenqian Z

Aug 19, 2019

Perfect for those who had some programming background but not used for 10+ years like me. The course has a reasonable increase in difficulty and the quiz during the lectures were very helpful in understanding the contents. The HW enhances your learning of the lectures and has lots of similar options so please be very careful. I would recommend the lecture of read and write to add more examples in distinguishing similar functions.

By Nada A

Jan 22, 2018

Amazing helpful course that took me step by step to learn Python. The videos, explanations, pop-up quizzes, weekly quizzes and assignments were helpful and encourage learning.

If you already know Python, you might find this course too basic but it was fine for me.

The discussions are informative and the mentors and other students are helpful creating a good learning experience.

I truly enjoyed it and learned a lot ! Thank You ^_^