The course is great and it really drills down to the basic of computers and how they're made and function. I miss the level of intensity if the previous course in the series "Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose", where completing each lesson was result of additional reading and hours of exercises, so the reward there was greater as well as the stickiness effect of the skills learned. The harder to gain the knowledge, the higher the chances it stays there for good.

Overall the course is great and Robert Sedgewick is a legend with great touch and delivery. To sum up - just make this course harder to pass with more hands on exercises and circuits to build :) and maybe add some certificate as this gives much more satisfaction and purpose to the students. I think Princeton should change their policy for this even if the certificates are marked as "figurative" just have this badge for people to carry on with them as a sense of achievement down the road.

Thank you, it was a great journey for me.

I feel the course does a great job in laying out an introduction to "Computer Science", familiarising and motivating the topics, to be covered deeply in the sophomore-junior year.

Excellent introductory course to theoretical concepts of Computer Scirence. Taking this course has made me aware of many aspects of the discipline.

Definitely recommended!

Very good lesson!

Really enjoyed this course despite that several chapters are under going major re-write. You need to do/try some of the problems in the online book, or try to replicate what Drs Sedgwick and Wayne do during the videos. Theoretical CS is really interesting and I can see how people get passionate by it. Thanks Gents, great course

i think the toy is a litter complex, algorithm is much more fun.

Great course for beginners

Great Course!

Good course.

no certificate available

This is easily one of the best (and comprehensive) fundamental computer science course I've taken. I've always loved stories, including origin stories of science and technology and this course does it beautifully - especially the punched paper tape IO. It also reminded me of my much cherished books "Digital Computer Electronics by Malvino and Brown", "Structured Computer Organization by Andrew S Tanenbaum" and many others - that I had during my studies (long ago). Nostalgic! I have no doubt that their (Dr. Sedgewick's and Dr. Wayne's) book that backs this course would also be great and very helpful to newcomers to computer science or to bibliophiles! If you're a beginner this course might require a healthy amount of work on your part. If you're here to refresh your knowledge, possibly after a long time, this really is comprehensive and fast paced. It packs a healthy punch in a short time if you had your fundamentals right during your studies.

A great course. There is a wealth of information and knowledge compressed into such a well structured course. Well done to the authors and creators of this course. I remember learning this over 20+ years ago when I studied CS and this was a refresher for me and I am amazed at the quality of the content. Its one thing to understand the content that you are delivering, its another to be able to package it into something that you can teach others. Excellent work from the authors and PU.

A solid introduction to Computer Science. Even though the course is short, it manages to provide a lot of useful information in a succinct way. The lecturer is a great speaker and he's always a pleasure to listen. It's obvious, that these lectures were created with care and consideration by knowledgeable people. I definately will recommend it.

The last two weeks were hard! A lot of content for just two sections of the course. Anyway, I think it's good for an introductory course, but it contrasts in difficulty level with the rest of the course (for me) and it might be a little too difficult for students without a digital electronics background. Thanks for this amazing free course!

I am impressed to say the least. My aim of embarking on programming became more actualized in this course. This course has given me a better understanding of computer architecture as well as a sound grip of computational theories. A short but very rich course. Thank you professor. "Things can get really complicated in real world"

This is a very good course on general computer science theories and how they fit into systems and applications. I especially like the approach to first talk about computer science theory and then systems and applications that are built based upon the theory. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in computer science.

Beware the course goes really deep. It will only take quoted 20 hours if you merely watch the videos, skim through the textbook amd guess your way through the grading tests. Otherwise you are looking at much bigger effort. Course materials are great if you need a solid platform to dive into Computer Science from.

This course is a life-changer for me. Firstly, I applied the new learning method. Secondly, I enjoy the way of teaching with many insights. Despite finishing this course, it inspires me to learn more theoretical computer science.

The course requires diligent study of the materials presented and some additional research and reading on the web. The week that takes the most study, and possibly several retries of the quiz, is week 6, Intractability.

amazing course, this course is an amazing course as introduction to cs, it shows the power and limits of computer, thanks coursera and professors for the course

The professor is the best I have ever had! The way he presented the materials was precise and concise. I also loved the historical contexts he often provided.

This course provides an unbelievable clear view of computer structure. It truly explains everything like revealing layer by layer of a PC.

Great course that has taught me a lot in the field of computer science. Cheers to Coursera and Princeton for such great knowledge.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Its a big help for learning the process as well as the behavior of the machine

"When I need courses on topics that my university doesn't offer, Coursera is one of the best places to go."