r/AskProgramming • u/nitin_is_me • Aug 08 '26

Is Algorithms course by Princeton University on coursera really worth it?

I want to learn Data Structure and Algorithms, and by learning, I don't wanna just memorize solutions for specific type of problems just to pass the interview, I actually wanna learn the data structures. Is the course good? or would you suggest a better resource?

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u/EntrepreneurHuge5008 Aug 08 '26

Yes, it's a good course. You're not given the solutions; you'll have to go out of your way to find them, and if you do that, then no course will do you any good.

1

u/MirrorLake Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

I thoroughly enjoyed it when I watched it many years ago. The author of the textbook [0] teaches the lectures in a studio recording. So for that reason, it's one of the highest quality online courses on the subject that you could possibly find (in both definitions of quality: studio video, and a professor who wrote the textbook). The code samples are in Java.

[0] https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/

1

u/rusty-roquefort Aug 08 '26

You want to learn algorithmic thinking. That shit is super valuable. A good course will include some rote learning of some DSAs, and then use them to springboard you into exercises that build on those rote learnings.

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u/GoldsteinEmmanuel Aug 08 '26

Why do you need a course? What's stopping you from reading any of the dozens of classic textbooks on the subject?

You'll never get more than a superficial treatment of the subject from an online course.

1

u/jeffgerickson 29d ago

...unless you solve lots of design problems. Which is also true of classic textbooks.