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Princeton University · on Coursera

Algorithms, Part I

Intermediate EnglishFREE
SkillsAlgorithmsData structuresSortingSearchingGraphsJava

Is this course right for you?

Our take
One of the strongest algorithm courses anywhere, and free, but only if you can already program in Java.

Good for: Programmers comfortable in Java who want a rigorous grounding in algorithms.

Skip if: You need a certificate, do not know Java, or are new to programming.

Sedgewick and Wayne aren't interested in shortcuts. They take you through sorting, searching, graphs and the data structures beneath them with a rigour that makes you understand why each works, not just how to call it, and the Java assignments have you build them yourself.

There's no certificate — Princeton doesn't offer one here — so you take this purely for what it does to your thinking, which is considerable. It's also genuinely hard, and paced for people already comfortable coding.

If what you really want is interview drilling, a dedicated coding-interview course will serve you better; if Java is new, learn that first. Algorithms themselves don't age, so none of this has gone stale (as of 2026).

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About this course

Algorithms, Part I is a standout algorithms course online — and one of the hardest. From Princeton's Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne, it covers the essential data structures and algorithms every serious programmer should know: union-find, stacks and queues, sorting, priority queues, binary search trees, and balanced trees, all with rigorous analysis and challenging Java programming assignments.

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Instructor

RS
Robert Sedgewick
Coursera instructor

Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne are Princeton computer scientists and authors of the definitive 'Algorithms' textbook. Their course is renowned for its rigour and clarity, and is consistently ranked among the very best on Coursera.

Frequently asked questions

Java. Princeton's Algorithms course (Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne) teaches and implements algorithms and data structures in Java, and its assignments use Java with the authors' provided libraries. The concepts are universal, but you do need working Java to complete the programming assignments. If you code in another language, you can follow the ideas, but the hands-on work assumes Java.

Yes, genuinely. It is a rigorous, university-level treatment of fundamental data structures and algorithms — sorting, searching, graphs, and more — with real analysis and demanding programming assignments. It is highly regarded precisely because it does not oversimplify. Motivated learners with solid Java and some maths cope well, but expect to work hard; it is not a gentle, high-level tour of the subject.

Absolutely. Princeton offers this free on Coursera, and much of its value is the strong teaching and the challenging assignments, which you get by auditing. A certificate is not the point here — the deep understanding of algorithms it builds is what matters, and that is available for free. It is widely recommended as a standout algorithms course, certificate or not.

This course is offered free by Princeton on Coursera and historically has not included a paid certificate in the way many courses do — its focus is open access to high-quality teaching. Availability of any certificate can change, so check the current listing, but treat this as a course to take for the knowledge and the assignments rather than for a credential.

Yes. Princeton provides it free on Coursera, including the lectures and the programming assignments with automated feedback, which is unusually generous — many courses lock assignments behind payment. So you get the full learning experience, including the challenging hands-on work, at no cost. It is a genuinely free, high-quality algorithms course from a top university.
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