I recently completed the "Introduction to Software Development" course by Amazon on Coursera, and it was a great experience. The course breaks down Java programming and the Software Development Lifecycle in a way that's easy to understand for beginners. The hands-on assignments were especially helpful in applying the concepts. Plus, the flexible schedule made it easy to fit into my routine. I highly recommend it for anyone new to software development!

(Note that this is an online course that is months old at the time of review and that it may be updated)

 Easily the worst learning material I've encountered (free or paid) on the subject of programming. These complaints extend to the second course in the Amazon Junior Software Developer specialization up to the first module (where I've decided to quit after seeing the syllabus and content don’t line up). As someone who has explored a number of object-oriented languages, learning Java should not be challenging. The actual difficulties come from tolerating this low quality course as someone pressed for time and presumably paying for quality. Consistency feels like the root of the problem. 

Trying to bear in mind that someone with no programming experience will likely take this course, I commend Amazon for belaboring every concept to - the point of absurdity. That’s consistent. There should be a world record awarded for how many permutations of “what is polymorphism” they could pack into a single course without actually adding anything substantial. To do this with Easy-Bake oven style labs that in no way resemble a real-world, useful program is unavoidable in beginner material. That’s fine per se. A solid foundation is key.

 However, couple this very low expectation of the novice’s ability to comprehend a concept with the apparent requirement that the novice will wander through hundreds of pages of dense language and virtual machine specifications as well as APIs to pick up on random nuances of the language they will be graded on without warning. That’s not consistent. Videos, labs, and reading assignment don’t feel like they’re mapped to graded tests and quizzes properly. To make it worse: there are no satisfying wins that motivate you to keep going which should be the hallmark of exemplary educational material….and you will need some serious motivation given all the faults I’ve encountered. 

Other courses I’ve taken on similar languages have you create full blown, networked, multimedia applications within a very short time with good pacing and supplementary materials. You will still be producing basic print statements* in labs of the second course after this one. 

The labs are the worst part. Every new lab will induce increasing dread whether or not you’re a total novice. 

The environment is pretty nice, but the content will haunt you. How does carefully going over the instructions only to find out the explicitly expected text across the entire program is counted as incorrect sound? Symbol names patterns? They’re not consistent in the instructions nor do they match what is expected when the lab is graded. The resulting errors you should look to for guidance? They’re truncated and verbose output from a bespoke automated grader which issues random tests, meaning you’ll spend an hour retesting and fixing punctuation requirements you can’t anticipate. 

*Whether every beginner’s educational Java program should be restricted to outputting print statements in an emulation of a terminal emulatior is a moot point. How does the lab introducing a code instruction that only make sense in a vague graphical context sound? You weren’t shown any APIs related to graphics. A no point were GUIs mentioned, but the lab is going to insist that you think hard about how the obviously graphics-related code fits into the final lab solution….which doesn’t even utilize the code in question. With the lab scenarios being as comically contrived as they are, the complete lab code is exceedingly sparse. For there to then be extraneous, irrelevant code is a problem and inconsistent. By the time I encountered this error, I was already conditioned to poor lab quality and just assumed there would actually be graphics added to the lab in a module that isn’t about graphics and hasn’t been preceded by anything graphics related. That tracks.

 Okay, you’ve learned a concept, applied the concept, have be tested on the concept, and then did basically same thing with minor grains of novelty for 4 modules straight. Good job! You’re pretty robust and resourceful making it through all that. Take a look at the syllabus for the second course. Error handing and file handling starting in module 2. Nice! New content! Wait, it's actually another 4 modules that rehash the last 4 modules of the previous class because we have to be sure you haven’t forgotten what an object in Java is. (Update: at the time of posting, it looks like they updated the second course to actually reflect the syllabus but I’m not sticking around and paying for it. Never should have been an issue to begin with considering I’ve paid for a complete course, not a half finished one that's being revised actively).

A huge thanks to the Amazon team for creating such a superb course. It's a really beginner friendly course, and the way of teaching the complex properties in such a simple manner is really commendable. I got to know each and every thing in detail of Java and building a solid foundation, which will eventually help me in understanding the more advanced concepts as well.

This course is an excellent resource for learning the basics of software development. It explains concepts in a simple and accessible way, making it ideal for beginners. I highly recommend it to anyone starting their coding journey and aspiring to work as a software developer in the future.

Great Course! I loved the practice Labs too. The only thing that could improve is the checking of the labs. The Checking AI marks you wrong even if your code is perfectly good, but the period in a display message is added or not added. Other that that the course is perfect!

Very thorough and comprehensive. In less than a month, this course teaches much of the same things as a semester-long 3-credit course on software design, though not quite all. The rest is for the next course in the series.

This is a humble and hands-on course covering the basics of software development using an industry language like Java. But self-study and research on own may be needed to understand concepts more and to solve lengthy labs.

Course is great. Really must have for a beginner. Being a software engineer with 2 years of experience. I can recommend this to my community of beginner software developers and students at Aao Code Kare.

Good experience, but I think that the laboratories should have a more up-to-date review, many times the "TODOS" did not match and the instructions were somewhat ambiguous.

I appreciate the approach they use to teach Java and how they effectively correlate these concepts with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)."

Solid training in Java OOP. I recommend it if you already have some programming knowledge but it isn't a barrier to completing this certification.

Nicely explained and with hands-on coding Labs, this course by Amazon is Great, also addition resources are provided to help with course.

i had a problem while running the program in the provided compiler.need to reset the server for the use .rest of all are good .

It is actually solid introduction to Java Programming, more than I expected. I am looking forward to Course 2 ^^

This course is very detailed and easy to understand, with clear and to-the-point explanations. Thank you!

I understood all the basic easily, and the code has the solution in case we do not know how to do it.

Really good introduction into programming in Java and programming consepts

Curso muito bom, insina do início ao fim, gostei bastante!

Very Intractive and gives many real-world implementation

worth for everyone who learning in it sector

Great course to take for understanding Java

Great course for learning Java basics.

I have found this course very helpful.

The labs are the best part to learn.