• For Individuals
  • For Businesses
  • For Universities
  • For Governments
Coursera
  • Online Degrees
  • Careers
  • Log In
  • Join for Free
    Coursera
    Chevron Left
    Back to Programming Fundamentals

    Learner Reviews & Feedback for Programming Fundamentals by Duke University

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarHalf Faded Star
    4.7
    stars
    6,868 ratings

    About the Course

    Programming is an increasingly important skill, whether you aspire to a career in software development, or in other fields. This course is the
    first in the specialization Introduction to Programming in C, but its lessons extend to any language you might want to learn. This is because
    programming is fundamentally about figuring out how to solve a class of problems and writing the algorithm, a clear set of steps to solve any
    problem in its class. This course will introduce you to a powerful problem-solving process—the Seven Steps—which you can use to solve any
    programming problem. In this course, you will learn how to develop an algorithm, then progress to reading code and underst...
    ...

    Top reviews

    ER

    Aug 14, 2020

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    The instruction provided in this course are very clear and anyone who can learn coding by this course. But the course has more readable content for you to take notes and reading it may take more time.

    SP

    Apr 24, 2020

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    Whether you are new to programming or an experienced guy, you should absolutely opt for this course because it helps to build a strong base with the basic but most important concepts in programming.

    Filter by:

    51 - 75 of 1,762 Reviews for Programming Fundamentals

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Yunus E

    •

    Sep 7, 2020

    I think this is a real good course. However, as we all know being a beginner of programmer is hard. So, we had many documents to read. It is ok but videos are very efficient but kind of short. I learned many things from videos but documents were kind hard to read and understand. Also, In my opinion, these documents would be better if they place after the videos. Because we had no idea about this new world and starting with good videos could be better then starting with complicated documents. But as I said videos were very beneficial.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Orcun D

    •

    Dec 20, 2019

    I have a background of programming and working as a python dev now. But decided to learn C from scratch. Cant say that this was really fundamental. Couldnt see any explained logic behind programming and quizzes are so meaningless. Like, why do i need to answer the decimal represantation of a character in a quiz? That type of stuff is so unnecessary. Additionaly I found the preparation of this course kinda lazy, just bunch of text material and the short videos from those texts. But still gives a good introduction knowledge about C.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By S. U

    •

    Jan 28, 2021

    The instruction is thorough and easy to follow, but there was a lot of reading - which I didn't mind, but some learners may be expecting more video instruction. I also thought there weren't really enough 'finger exercises' and the quizzes were fairly simple. A good 'get your feet wet' course but ultimately it still felt a bit lacking. I'm hoping the other courses in the series are more challenging.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Daniel t

    •

    Sep 22, 2021

    the content is good, and the explanations as well. However they introduced some subtle things about some black lives matter on some links they gave and LGBTQ+ flags on some explanations. I mean sicence courses shouldn't need to have that kind of political things, even if they are as subtle as they try to input that on education, is just about learning to program on C code, nothing else.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Girish D K

    •

    Aug 3, 2020

    You should be more energetic during teaching so that student will enjoy learning instead of getting bored from your session. And also make more video material so that the concept will be more clear in students mind and reduce reading material and make more video with full energy. Hope you will take this review in positive way.Thank You

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Sidharth G

    •

    Aug 27, 2020

    The reading materials are too long and boring, videos should be considered for all those topics which were covered via reading material, also the topics that videos cover could be taken in more depth and more on hand coding experience should be provided via exercises

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By law p

    •

    Aug 15, 2019

    The video is great and instructive however week 3 and week 4 quiz is quite challenging for a new beginner. Many reading materials in each week but the video is not long enough to cover and explain those important concepts mentioned in the reading materials.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Supreeth P G

    •

    Jul 23, 2020

    I feel that more interactive videos with student would be more beneficial to students as they can grasp the concepts much easier than having to read paragraphs and passages

    Thank you to all the concerned faculty for helping me to complete this course

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Shuhao L

    •

    Sep 9, 2020

    There should be more video than readings, because I think videos explain things clearer than texts. Also, there should be correct answer sheets for quizzes and explanations after each week's tasks so that we can learn more from our mistakes.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By jenny d

    •

    Jan 10, 2021

    I think it is much better to give more demo examples than giving examples as reading materials, because I think It will be easier for the newbies to understand the context if the examples are more on visuals than reading.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Avishkar

    •

    Mar 26, 2020

    Don't by the rating This course was really helpful it gave me a deeper insight into C. The course was well structured with great videos I just felt it could have more videos but everything was just great overall.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Ragavan S

    •

    Sep 30, 2020

    algorithms based concepts were very much clear and explained very well. but the course failed to give insights more on c programming and coding referring only to very few concepts in programming.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Keshav G

    •

    Nov 15, 2020

    The thing that this course should improve is its reading part. It has a very long reading part, mostly students get bored and frustrated in reading so much lengthy paragraphs.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Neelam H G

    •

    Sep 14, 2020

    This is a really nice course for beginners but the problem is there's a lot of reading compared to explanation and videos so might get boring.Otherwise good content.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Goutham E

    •

    May 20, 2020

    The course outline was very difficult. The topics that were explained in the course videos were basic, but the questions asked in the exam were hard.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Keren Z

    •

    Jan 7, 2020

    Too much readings. I wish most of reading materials can be covered in videos.

    I don't like the week 4 quiz. It's too subjective.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Saurav J

    •

    May 22, 2020

    Too many readings, I got bored also. Not that attractive course. 7 Steps is the Major of this course everyone should practice.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Swathi K

    •

    Jun 23, 2020

    This course will be very good.I'm really thanks full to this course I learned so many things from this course.thank u so much

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By Ritik G

    •

    Jan 6, 2019

    it didnt specify how to actually write command in lynx or window.also it shoukd specify printf command first week .thank you.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarStarStar

    By SAI T K

    •

    May 10, 2020

    Could've had more practice sessions than reading sections.

    Too much reading involved. More videos would have been much better

    Filled StarStarStarStarStar

    By Wuan H

    •

    Aug 17, 2024

    I have 40 years of experience as a computer programmer, and I enrolled in this course to see if I could recommend it to someone looking to enter the field of computer science. I definitely would not recommend this course to anyone. It is a huge waste of time and does not focus on those vital things for success as a programmer. I was truly disappointed because if someone who was interested in programming started in this course then I doubt that their interest would continue.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    By Matthew A

    •

    Sep 17, 2021

    I've already new programming fundamentals, in college there was a course I took in C, taught me the fundamentals, but it wasn't taught to me properly and for a year I skipped over brushing up on my fundamentals because I deemed it to be not needed at this stage. I found during that time that learning a new programming language was much complicated for me even though I have been coding for a while. Sort of became discouraged to program for a bit, after my break I took up web development and machine learning and managed to finish courses and gain certifications on them, during that time I did brush up on my basics, but not to the extent I felt comfortable. September I found this course, using a free trial offered by Coursera plus, I decided I would enroll and see if I can finally master my fundamentals. Duke University and the professors who taught this course was amazing! Not only was I able to go back to my roots and finally get a hang of the basics, but new skills were added to my lists as well. A skill that I walked away with a huge smile on my face was, learning Computational thinking, the professors didn't just teach basic knowledge of programming, they broke down the concepts and explained them piece by piece. Duke university did well with how the course was executed, reading first then videos to reinforce and confirm what was learned, I found it very helpful and was easy to follow along with the videos and complete the quizzes. That being said, I read some of the comments prior to enrolling, the few comments that rated poorly, forget what the others say, a lot of the time when people try something new and it doesn't fit their learning style they get frustrated and deem it bad, yes it was a lot of reading but the reading gave purpose to the videos which went hand in hand. Quizzes weren't bad, just needed to review material and go over the videos and readings if you didn't understand, also to search things you might not understand as well, there are some people out there who could explain it better than how a professor explained it and then you could come back to the video with understanding to follow through with the teachings. This course has taught me that to become a great programmer you always have to plan ahead before doing, apply logic and then get to rolling out the show. Also to go above the scope and do research in the problem your tackling. This raps up my review, this was a great course, Duke University and the Professors did well!

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    By Nathan S

    •

    May 25, 2020

    This course is so fundamental that you don't actually need to write a single line of code to pass. You do everything on paper. But I still found it valuable despite several years in a variety of technical code writing code. Most of the course videos consist of professors walking you through step-by-step evaluation of programs while they talk about the execution and the readings are similar to the first few chapters of any good introductory programming language text. I find it a very useful place to begin, because I'm moving on confident that I have a good grasp of the nuances of C evaluation. It's very easy to spend a lot of time around code and see enough C that you think you could get your ideas to compile this afternoon. I know for a fact that I would be right in my case. But I still wouldn't know the details of the right way to use structs and would likely make the mistake of assuming the C compiler was treating variables like so many other high-level languages (HINT: it's not quite). Looking forward to continuing this series and glad that I chose this path to deepen my understanding of this timeless tool.

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    By Arkajyoti M

    •

    Jan 10, 2021

    Programming is an increasingly important skill, whether you aspire to a career in software development, or in other fields. This course is the first in the specialization Introduction to Programming in C, but its lessons extend to any language you might want to learn. This is because programming is fundamentally about figuring out how to solve a class of problems and writing the algorithm, a clear set of steps to solve any problem in its class. This course will introduce you to a powerful problem-solving process—the Seven Steps—which you can use to solve any programming problem. In this course, you will learn how to develop an algorithm, then progress to reading code and understanding how programming concepts relate to algorithms

    Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

    By Deleted A

    •

    Jun 22, 2024

    I have searched for many courses on platforms like YouTube and others, but they didn’t teach C programming with hardware representations. However, this course did teach me those concepts, helping me understand issues like overflow and underflow, as well as programming fundamentals such as basic data types, complex and custom data types, functions, conditional statements, loops, and the “Everything is a number” rule. Finally, these courses helped me learn algorithms, emphasizing that planning comes first, followed by coding. They also introduced me to the seven-step process for problem-solving. Finally, my sincere thanks to the professors of the course: Drew Hilton, Anne Bracy, and Genevieve Lipp.

    • Chevron Left
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
    • 9
    • 10
    • 11
    • ...
    • 71
    • Chevron Right

    Coursera Footer

    Technical Skills

    • ChatGPT
    • Coding
    • Computer Science
    • Cybersecurity
    • DevOps
    • Ethical Hacking
    • Generative AI
    • Java Programming
    • Python
    • Web Development

    Analytical Skills

    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Big Data
    • Business Analysis
    • Data Analytics
    • Data Science
    • Financial Modeling
    • Machine Learning
    • Microsoft Excel
    • Microsoft Power BI
    • SQL

    Business Skills

    • Accounting
    • Digital Marketing
    • E-commerce
    • Finance
    • Google
    • Graphic Design
    • IBM
    • Marketing
    • Project Management
    • Social Media Marketing

    Career Resources

    • Essential IT Certifications
    • High-Income Skills to Learn
    • How to Get a PMP Certification
    • How to Learn Artificial Intelligence
    • Popular Cybersecurity Certifications
    • Popular Data Analytics Certifications
    • What Does a Data Analyst Do?
    • Career Development Resources
    • Career Aptitude Test
    • Share your Coursera Learning Story

    Coursera

    • About
    • What We Offer
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • Catalog
    • Coursera Plus
    • Professional Certificates
    • MasterTrack® Certificates
    • Degrees
    • For Enterprise
    • For Government
    • For Campus
    • Become a Partner
    • Social Impact
    • Free Courses
    • ECTS Credit Recommendations

    Community

    • Learners
    • Partners
    • Beta Testers
    • Blog
    • The Coursera Podcast
    • Tech Blog
    • Teaching Center

    More

    • Press
    • Investors
    • Terms
    • Privacy
    • Help
    • Accessibility
    • Contact
    • Articles
    • Directory
    • Affiliates
    • Modern Slavery Statement
    • Manage Cookie Preferences
    Learn Anywhere
    Download on the App Store
    Get it on Google Play
    Logo of Certified B Corporation
    © 2025 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
    • Coursera Facebook
    • Coursera Linkedin
    • Coursera Twitter
    • Coursera YouTube
    • Coursera Instagram
    • Coursera TikTok
    Coursera

    Sign up

    Learn on your own time from top universities and businesses.

    ​
    ​
    Between 8 and 72 characters
    Your password is hidden
    ​

    or

    Already on Coursera?


    I accept Coursera's Terms of Use and Privacy Notice. Having trouble logging in? Learner help center

    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.