MR
May 11, 2020
Really interesting course. The interactive coding sessions with swirl are especially useful. Would be great, if you provided sample solutions for the programming assignments, in particular for week 4.
WH
Feb 2, 2016
"R Programming" forces you to dive in deep.
These skills serve as a strong basis for the rest of the data science specialization.
Material is in depth, but presented clearly. Highly recommended!
By Patricia R B D
•May 23, 2018
I have long since wanted to learn R, but other online tutorial sites which mostly involved learning through copy-pasting codes didn't help me well. I had no expectations for this specific module as I know that I have unsuccessful experience on learning R online, but this module helped me significantly. Unlike other online tutorial sites, lectures in this module helped me understand how R thinks and works. Lexical scoping was particularly difficult to understand at first, and I also had to rewatch it a few times, but it did help me a lot in actually learning the language. I also like how the programming assignments are laid out as "machine problems" wherein students are asked to create functions that also require us to search for other functions on our own. The swirl exercises were also particularly helpful for me in remembering some useful functions that I would later use for the programming assignments. In just one month, I am now confident to say that I know how to R (but I know there's a lot yet to learn hahaha).
By Michael M
•Jul 31, 2017
This is one of the most frustrating courses I've ever taken. Please do not mistake this for criticism, it is not. This course is basically trial by fire, but at the end of it, I am surprised how much I have learned about R. One suggestion I have for students is this: do not just write the code for the functions from the assignments. Play around with the different functions by writing your own codes. Here are some ideas: write a code that takes in two numeric values and one letter that each represent the corresponding sides of a right triangle. Your code should calculate the length of the third side using the Pythagorean theorem. Also, write a code that solves a quadratic equation in standard form given three numeric values as elements in a vector (where each element = its respective leading coefficient). Finally, write a code that takes any numeric matrix with dimension [3:n] and runs each column of the matrix through the quadratic formula. Doing this really helped my understanding of the split and lapply commands.
By Carlos C
•Sep 3, 2019
Excellent course. Really. Don't listen to those people saying it is too difficult. You just need to think, probably watch again some small lecture, and probably go to the Discussion Forums (or Stack Overflow in my case to know about how to do something specific in R), to solve the Programming Assignments. It has the right level of difficulty and the instructor, Roger Peng is amazing. He's very excited about the subject and his energy helps to motivate you throughout the course.
Maybe just a little bit of programming experience is required (just thinking in programming terms or knowing the basic functions). But really, I believe anyone with motivation, patience (you're gonna need this last one haha), and focus can pass this course without a problem.
I almost didn't take this course because of the negative comments I read before starting. But trust me,take the leap and start R Programming from Johns Hopkins University. You won't regret it! Especially if you're interested in the Data Science or Data Analysis field.
By Miguel C
•Mar 16, 2020
I really enjoyed this course!
I was already somewhat familiar with R but I now feel much more confident in my R programming skills. I am glad this course was not exclusively helpful for people just starting with R. I learned many new things and I sometimes struggled with some of the assignments (especially week 3 programming assignment) and they pushed me to understand more complicated concepts, which I was really happy about.
I thought the swirl library was also really helpful. It solidified what we'd learned in the video lectures, and sometimes delved into things I had not seen before or things we had seen before but with more detail, such as ellipses (as arguments in functions), definition of binary operations and simulations of coin flips.
The only part I was not interested in is the history of R at the beginning of the course. I didn't really care for it, but I think I understand why it's there.
Overall, I really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it to other people.
By Bruno H
•Jan 15, 2020
Foi um curso bem útil e de grande aplicabilidade, passando muito bem por todo conteúdo de funções, loops, extrações e manipulação de conjunto de dados, reforçando muito bem através de exercÃcios. Em conjunto com os principais métodos usuais de depuração, otimização e utilização de gráficos. Entretanto, achei este curso com uma dificuldade considerável nos projetos semanais para quem é iniciante, dediquei por um mês uma média de 4 horas/diária (inclusive aos finais de semana) e a maior parte do tempo gasto foi buscando conteúdos de apoio, metodologias adicionais em fóruns como o GitHub, Stackoverflow e lendo a biblioteca do R. O que não é algo ruim, pois no dia a dia, iremos nos deparar procurando novas informações e metodologias mais atuais para fazermos algo de uma forma mais eficiente.
By Shreya S
•Feb 27, 2019
Brilliant content!! Practice exercises really help you evaluate yourself. A little knowledge of R programming before this course is helpful as that might help understand the slides better. Though it is not mandatory but one can still utilize free resources available online to build the basic knowledge. Also, if you have prior experience with any programming language, that'll be very helpful. Would highly recommend this course.
By Eva K
•May 23, 2021
With no prior experience of programming, I found this course to be very challenging especially while solving the programming assignments in which the problems were very difficult to solve at times. But the lecture material and discussions in which mentors and students actively participated really provided some background support to me. Overall, an excellent course for all who are interested to learn R.
By Elisa R
•Apr 15, 2021
The assignments are very difficult. ALL the assignments required me to spend HOURS on them, looking for help outside what was given in the course..
BUT I learned a LOT and after finishing this course and others from the specialization I learned in 5 months what I haven't been able to learn in like a whole year.
By Bryan M
•Mar 23, 2023
You'll learn a ton if you earnestly try to complete this course independently and without looking up any of the solutions to the programming assignments; however, the programming assignments are punishingly difficult if you're new to programming, so be prepared to work hard.
By Ryan V
•Feb 11, 2022
Difficult to follow at times. it will take a lot of time to get through the assigments. but if you are serious about learning R or any programming, it is necessary to get thrown into the fire.
By Elizabeth G
•Oct 20, 2022
I learned a lot from having to search for answers to the programming projects.
By WHAT
•Apr 16, 2019
Nice!!
By Hans F B
•Nov 14, 2020
The course is taught like how most technical university courses are taught: simple examples delivered in a complex way with DIFFICULT assessments (difficult for a beginner). I had to read from tons of other external sources just to complete the programming assignments on my own. Even the very cool self-paced, hands-on R-tutorial (Swirl) didn't help much in equipping me with the skills to easily complete the assignments. The instructor is very qualified to deliver the course, but the manner of delivery is overwhelming for a beginner in R (or programming.
Overall, I began with zero/very minimal programming skills and ended up with quite a decent background in R programming by the course's end. If you have zero programming background, do not take this course.
By Md. Z M
•May 23, 2020
For the background, I am a graduate in Computer Science with 3+ years of professional experience in software development.
I found the course to be challenging enough, and equally rewarding. The swirl exercises are good and help you practice the commands in a guided setting. The programming assignments were very challenging. I ended up working on them for 7-8 hours on average. Assignments were designed to make you investigate and study on your own (this really helped in my understanding of R).
Surely, I would recommend R Programming. However, novices in programming will have to invest a lot of time and effort on their own to navigate through the content for significant gain.
By Dan C
•Dec 11, 2022
Course has good content, engaging videos, and challenging programming assignments. There's a pretty big gap between the content+videos on one hand, and the assignments on the other. You'll definitely get the most learning out of the assignments!
By Twinkle J
•Sep 15, 2020
The course is interesting and very engaging. However, I felt difficulty in writing the codes for the assignments since I don't have a coding or programming background.
By Sebastian D
•Feb 26, 2019
level of difficulty for quiz and assignments are sky high;
it seems in the course you learn how to multiply and in test you are asked to know how differentiation wordks
By Yuri C L
•Aug 4, 2017
It is a good course with very challenging assignments. Given the class levels, maybe too challenging. Though I must say I did complete the course before its deadline.
By Sagar T
•Jun 20, 2016
Course is really great. However for the absolute beginners it might be challenging as the assignments and videos assume basic knowledge of stats and programing
By Ong W J
•Oct 6, 2018
This course is tough if you have zero background in programming. I struggled alots especially in the last assignment.
By Xavi A
•Jan 1, 2021
Good course but in my opinion very difficult to achieve if you don't have previous programming knowledge.
By Joanne Y
•Feb 7, 2022
I learned a lot, but with a high frustration. More guidance/structure would be good. If Thanks!
By Zhu, T
•May 25, 2020
Homework and programming assignments are not related with videos.
By SEEUN H
•Feb 4, 2019
Nice, but limited explanation for beginners.
By Yaw O
•Feb 2, 2019
Some concepts weren't clearly discussed