CourseraIntroduction To Computer ScienceFree courseCertificate

Principles of Computing (Part 2)

This Specialization covers much of the material that first-year Computer Science students take at Rice University. Students learn sophisticated programming skills in Python from the ground up and apply these skills in building more than 20 fun projects. The Specialization concludes with a Capstone exam that allows the students to demonstrate the range of knowledge that they have acquired in the Specialization.

4.7

42 reviews

Created by: Scott Rixner

Quality Score

Content Quality

Video Quality

Qualified Instructor

Course Pace

Course Depth & Coverage

Overall Score : 94 / 100

Course Description

This two-part course introduces the basic mathematical and programming principles that underlie much of Computer Science. Understanding these principles is crucial to the process of creating efficient and well-structured solutions for computational problems. To get hands-on experience working with these concepts, we will use the Python programming language. The main focus of the class will be weekly mini-projects that build upon the mathematical and programming principles that are taught in the class. To keep the class fun and engaging, many of the projects will involve working with strategy-based games.In part 2 of this course, the programming portion of the class will focus on concepts such as recursion, assertions, and invariants. The mathematical portion of the class will focus on searching, sorting, and recursive data structures. Upon completing this course, you will have a solid foundation in the principles of computation and programming. This will prepare you for the next course in the specialization, which will begin to introduce a structured approach to developing and analyzing algorithms. Developing such algorithmic thinking skills will be critical to writing large scale software and solving real world computational problems.

Time: 19h

Instructor Details

Scott Rixner

4.7 Rating
42 Reviews

Scott Rixner is a Professor of Computer Science at Rice University. His research focuses on systems software and computer architecture. He is well versed in the internals of the Python programming language, as he is currently developing a light-weight Python interpreter for embedded systems in his research. He has also taught many of the introductory computer science courses at Rice, including Computational Thinking, Algorithmic Thinking, Introduction to Program Design, and Introduction to Computer Systems. He is the chairman of the curriculum committees for both the Department of Computer Science and the School of Engineering at Rice. Prior to joining Rice, he received his Ph.D. from MIT.

The Horse Course: Introduction to Basic Care and Management
4.9 (156 Reviews)

- Provider: Coursera
- Time: 22h

Free

Operating Systems from scratch - Part 2 (2022)
4.8 (1,662 Reviews)

- Provider: Udemy
- Time: 12.3h

$10.99

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) with Python for beginners (2026)
4.8 (531 Reviews)

- Provider: Udemy
- Time: 2.3h

$64.99

Code Yourself! An Introduction to Programming
4.8 (297 Reviews)

- Provider: Coursera
- Time: 18h

Free

Introduction to Programming Crash Course + Python Primer (2025)
4.7 (3,814 Reviews)

- Provider: Udemy
- Time: 4.7h

$59.99

Object-Oriented Software Engineering with Java (2023)
4.7 (210 Reviews)

- Provider: Udemy
- Time: 6.5h

$84.99

All Introduction to Computer Science courses

Reviews

4.7

42 reviews in total

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

Write a review

By Radhika R on 3-Oct-19

Very good course, especially the lessons on recursion and breadth-first searching. Lessons were very good and quizzes really served to reinforce material. Projects in this course were much more challenging than previous ones.Final project (15 puzzle) was very frustrating and didn't seem designed to teach as many skills as previous projects; just seemed like it was designed to be complicated and difficult because it was the last project.

By Djiofack I on 21-Aug-19

Great course!

By Michael B on 13-May-19

Mini-projects hard and makes you wanna think all aspects which is a good programming practice. However, I believe theoretical depth is missing.

By By Roberto M P F M on 29-Mar-19

Great course! Each course is getting more challenging, and the way it is taught is simply great. It is easy to follow and still makes you think a lot. It is really rewarding finishing the mini-projects.

By Dave S on 4-Mar-19

Great continuation of part 1, with a bit more "true" computer science techniques taught. Challenging (but fun) projects each week. Make sure you put some effort into the practice activities each week. These will help you understand the weekly material better and prepare you for both the homework and projects. two thumbs up!

By Anakot K R on 25-Feb-19

Great course, I hope for more of this kind of courses. Invaluable skills gained from this course. High praise to all the professors. Thank You Very Much.

By Nalini A on 8-Feb-19

the last week is really challenging but l like it

By Yihong H on 22-Dec-18

Overall a great course, with a few glitches: 1. The tests for the homework are not working properly. 2. The amount of homework is a bit overwhelming for an introductory course.

By Edwin B on 3-Oct-18