A structured introductory Python course by Charles Severance (University of Michigan) covering Python basics, data structures, web data, databases, and data visualization, with a companion free textbook. Commenters describe it as a beginner-friendly start that can be taken for free via audit.

Commenters call it a great, well-paced structured introduction for complete beginners, with a patient instructor and a free audit option.

On Reddit (33)

1. Strongly recommendsVikingOyr/Python2023in “Looking for learning resources for beginner”

   I just completed the "Python for everybody" online course from University of Michigan, delivered by Coursera. I can recommend this course which I completed all 6 tracks in just under 3 weeks. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python

2. Strongly recommendsgadi800r/learnprogramming2023in “New in programming”

   Python is a phenomenal first language to learn, so I recommend that one! Python 4 Everybody is a phenomenal course. It has to be in the top 2 best courses I took. freeCodeCamp has it up here https://youtu.be/8DvywoWv6fI

3. Strongly recommendsJomorrCoder/learnprogramming2022in “At what point do you admit to yourself that you are too dumb for programming?”

   Hey, don't feel bad, the frustrations are common. I guess I would say a couple of things... First, almost literally no one is "too dumb" to understand at least the basics of programming. Don't beat yourself up that way. Second, watching random tutorials is rarely the best way to get started. Have…

4. Strongly recommendsSoonysoser/Python2022in “The top 5 advanced Python highly rated free courses On Udemy with real-world projects.”▲ 1

   Hi buddy Recently I completed the course:Python for Everybody Specialization. at Coursera, the course is represented by the University of Michigan as a financial-aid one and still free of cost. @ https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python I was looking for the next step after the Coursera…

5. Strongly recommendsPablo96Molinar/learnmachinelearning2021in “What is the most useful free course you have taken?”▲ 6

   freecodecamp.org have some amazing courses. I took Python for everyone and I just started the Machine learning one. You got video lesson and some final projects to earn a certification.

6. Strongly recommendsOld_Katr/Python2018in “What kind of jobs does python open up for me?”▲ 5

   In case anyone wants to check out the classes I posted about: ### Coursera ### * Python for Everyone (formerly Python for Informatics) * Applied Data Science with Python * Interactive Python ### EDX ### * Python for Data Science : I highly recommend this as second after Python for Everyone *…

7. Strongly recommendszerotexanr/learnprogramming2017in “I have 2 months off this summer and want to devote a significant amount of that time to learning. The problem is that I won't follow through unless I have structured and planned it ahead of time. Does anyone else have experience or advice about doing this type of self learning?”

   Didn't read the whole response.... Forgive me if this is already stated. I just got an email from U Michigan about other opportunities. I took their free Intro to Python course on Coursera, and thought it was great for starting out. I know/knew a little bit about coding from growing up with…

8. RecommendsArmoredHeartr/learnprogramming2023in “Stuck in 'tutorial hell'? It might not be your fault.”

   Never watched a YT tutorial for coding something (just structured courses or books), but I'd certainly seen a lot of, "tutorial hell," posts and wondered how it happened. Assuming your assessment is correct, it makes a loooot more sense to me now. In some thread the other week (one of the "I'm 18…

9. RecommendsShort_Internal_9854r/learnprogramming2023in “Just finished CS50; what now?”

   No harm in expanding your skill, google Dr Charles Severance courses, (his personal website has the free courses that Coursera or edX have? He has python for everybody, c for everybody, web application for everybody, Django for everybody. You can check out his website for the courses he has and…

10. Recommendshcb32r/learnprogramming2023in “Is it wrong to drop CS50 for FreeCodeCamp?”▲ 2

    CS50 is a difficult course. Harvard expects the students to either know some programming beforehand, or for the students to study alot on their own. CS intro courses, are in general pretty tough, and take alot of time for people who have never programmed before. There is nothing wrong with…

11. RecommendsTrad3_Ecom-112r/learnprogramming2023in “Recent Coding Bootcamp Graduate looking to get experience (Web Dev)”▲ 0

    Just do odin project and FCC 4h python course

12. RecommendsLVbuckeye_2001r/learnprogramming2022in “I want to start to learn Python, I am completely new to programming. Should I start with the book "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" or with the official tutorial on Python website? Also along this should I use "freecodecamp" or "codecademy" or do you have some other recommendation?”▲ 3

    I would agree with the suggestion to go with Python Crash Course first. Maybe even check out Python for Everybody by Charles Severance. You can get it via FreeCodeCamp.org or I think the author (who is a U of Michigan prof) has it available online.

13. Recommendslearning-to-programmr/learnprogramming2021in “People who started from scratch and got to the front end of web programming, how did you do that?”▲ 11

    Hey, since you're learning python (and don't want to do the Odin project yet), and you're also interested in front end development, you might want to check out CS50 web dev. It's a course taught by Harvard teachers, it gives you an introduction to web development (html, css, and js and git) and it…

14. RecommendsAppropriateBottle418r/learnprogramming2021in “What would I need to learn to build a txt / csv information extractor?”▲ 1

    I know nearly nothing about programming, but I have been trying to solve some of my own data problems for a project I'm working on. At first I tried using R and R Studio, which I found an easier entry point than figuring out what the hell a coding environment is, etc like you have to do with…

15. RecommendsAriadneLr/learnprogramming2021in “[Seeking Python Advice] Really disappointed in myself... I've dropped out of a University programming course, again.”▲ 1

    Have a look at Dr Chuck’s PY4E course - he is great. I’ve tried a few times and this course helped me get to grips with programming where I never could before.

16. RecommendsDaiBando413r/learnprogramming2018in “Learning Python 3 - Master Core Concepts first or Complete the entire Course”

    I can completely sympathize what you are going through and often, in a self-taught journey towards learning any first programming language, it is often difficult to grasp the concepts and application of any language if you've never done it before. I have struggled with the exact same thing so what…

17. Recommendsglitch-catr/learnprogramming2018in “Are online resources like CodeAcademy actually any good for absolute beginners?”▲ 1

    I just mean that I’m still learning and haven’t had any programming jobs, so you should definitely value opinions of people who have programmed for a living over mine. I’ve been taking online courses of varying difficulty for almost 2 years and feel like I can write programs to solve any problems…

18. Recommendsequineranchr/Python2017in “Having problems with the download and installation of the Mac Installer disk image (2.6.6) from the site”

    Coursera has a really good python course. "Python for Everyone". It starts out teaching in 2xx because alot software is still running that ver. But then it moves into 3xx later and points out the differences.

19. Recommendsgarwilr/learnprogramming2016in “Do you guys recommend Coursera/Online Resources to learn Python/R for data analytics?”

    Check out Python for Informatics by Charles Severance. There's a free book and Coursera course.

20. Recommendsqna1r/learnprogramming2016in “[Novice Advice] If you couldn't afford a CS degree, but could dedicate 10 hours a day for one year to learning how to code properly, where would you start?”▲ 41

    I was in basically your place last year and am still on my journey, self learning takes a lot of self discipline though, and given that life will at some time get in the way of your goals, its best you have the right mindset starting out. This track I am about to recommend is what I call the…

21. Recommendszzyzx00r/learnprogramming2015in “Sysadmin learning to code.”

    Try the Python for Everyone course through Coursera. It's how I learned and I find that the pacing is really great, the instructor is excellent and the course staff is really helpful. Best part is it's free, although you don't get a certification if you take the free version.

22. Recommendsboy_without_a_fairyr/learnprogramming2015in “Codecademy, Khan Academy, MIT & Harvard online courses, Coursera, Treehouse, Udemy... Do you know of any other interactive resource to learn programming online? Which do you prefer?”

    From what I've tried I can tell you to first do codecademy to get to know the syntax. Then do this course https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn and if you like it continue doing https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython1 and https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython2 . Those…

23. Recommendswriesdijnsr/Python2015in “Learning Python - not sure which resource to use”▲ 1

    I would suggest https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn for python2. Its a university style introduction to programming using python. You can either wait for the next course to start, or download the textbook and do it yourself.

24. Recommendsallydollyr/Python2015in “Beginner in Python programming”

    For complete beginners to programming(slow course starting in 10 days): https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn If you're comfortable with a pretty fast course, more mathematics although nothing beyond high school courses…

25. Recommendsconcerned_coderr/learnprogramming2014in “I want to learn programming”▲ 2

    If you want to continue on the python deal - which is a good starting language to get familiar with what you will encounter in other languages, I would recommend starting with this free course that is starting in a bit. https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn If you want to get right into 2d…

26. MentionsFarpafrafr/learnprogramming2023in “going to uni”

    In general I would first start with the basics by following a course on a language like Python to get familiar with programming concepts. Something like MOOC (linked in the prev comment) or even something with good ratings on Udemy. After that you have lots of important subjects to spend time on…

27. Mentionsbbogdaanr/Python2022in “Any advices about starting learning Python for a beginner programmer?”

    I’m in the same boat. I’ve made a free trial on coursera to do the google crash course on python. You can easily finish in a week and cancel your subscription. But I decided to stay as I found the content quite ok, and after the major concepts I went on and did some exercises on pynative. I see…

28. Mentionsan4s_911r/programming2021in “Hello. Do you guys have/recommend any free program to code? currently im using this website to learn Python P.S. Im a beginner. Thanks in advance”▲ 2

    You said you wanna learn Python right? There are tons: - https://learnpython.org - https://freecodecamp.org has a Python For Everybody course - https://edx.org provides so many free courses - https://cs50.harvard.edu/x - Introduction to Computer science by Harvard, MIT, and EdX. A very good…

29. Mentions1234eee1234r/learnmachinelearning2021in “Struggling With My Masters Due To Depression”▲ 2

    Programming is something that everyone finds tough initially but it gets better! I agree with the other comments, find time everyday and do python tutorials. I also recommend the coursera course on basics of python by university of michigan, they take you from the very basics to using openCV for…

30. MentionsiTipTurtlesr/learnprogramming2015in “"Learning X or Y will help you learn other languages"”

    Very well put thank you! I have enrolled on the EDX Computer Science course, which covers algorithms and includes building things in C (something I have never done) and I know a few people that say C, C# or C++ as their first language has benefited them greatly. Also been recommended Coursera for…

31. MentionsDiscoPandar/learnprogramming2015in “Studying Mathematics & Physics, will coding in R, Matlab, Mathematica help or should I jump to something like c#, python or whatever?”

    There are tons of good resources online. I got my second start with python by using codecademy, which gets a lot of (somewhat deserved) hate around here. It's good for teaching you basic syntax, but you'll definitely want a book of some sort to move beyond beginner mode. Overall I'd say start with…

32. Mentionstoilet_--gay_redditr/learnprogramming2015in “Code Academy - WTFBBQ - bit of rant, bit of suggestions”

    CS50 is a great intro course, in C on EdX. The MIT one /u/Valhalla1759 mentioned is also good, though a little less engaging. Or just not as fun. On Coursera there is a series of classes on Python, each like 5wks, 6 classes total. Though last two might be more on general algorithms.

33. Mentionsnephilim42r/learnprogramming2013in “Self taught Developers, how did you do it?”▲ 1

    With one exception I consider myself self-taught but maybe not in the way you initially defined it. I took one class in PASCAL programming during high school but to be perfectly honest I did it for an easy A because I'd dabbled in BASIC growing up and as long as you understood that computers can…

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