Udacity

Intro to Theoretical Computer Science (Udacity)

Offered by Udacity,
Intro to Theoretical Computer Science (Udacity)

Dealing with Challenging Problems. This class teaches you about basic concepts in theoretical computer science -- such as NP-completeness -- and what they imply for solving tough algorithmic problems.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Udacity's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

At the end of this course, you will have a solid understanding of theoretical computer science. This will not only allow you to recognize some of the most challenging algorithmic problems out there, but also give you powerful tools to deal with them in practice.

What You Will Learn

Lesson 1
Challenging Problems

  • An introduction to tough problems and their analysis.

Lesson 2
Understanding Hardness

  • What we mean when a problem is "hard" and the concept of NP-completeness.

Lesson 3
Showing Hardness

  • Tools to let you recognize and prove that a problem is hard.

Lesson 4
Intelligent Force

  • Smart techniques to solve problems that should – theoretically – be impossible to solve.

Lesson 5
Sloppy Solutions

  • Gaining speed by accepting approximate solutions.

Lesson 6
Poking Around

  • Why randomness can be of help – sometimes. An introduction to complexity classes.

Lesson 7
Ultimate Limits

  • Problems that no computer can ever solve. In theory.

Prerequisites and Requirements
You should have a basic understanding of algorithms (such as Intro to Algorithms) and programming (such as Introduction to Python Programming). No prior knowledge about theoretical computer science required!

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Intro to AJAX (Udacity) Udacity
Udacity

Intro to AJAX (Udacity)

CS: Programming Computer Science

Making Asynchronous Requests with jQuery. In this course you will learn how to make asynchronous requests with JavaScript (using jQuery’s AJAX functionality), and gain a better understanding of what’s actually happening when you do so. You will also learn how to use data APIs so you can take advantage of freely accessible data in your applications, including photo results, news articles and up-to-date data about the world around us.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Programming AJAX JQuery
Details
Computability, Complexity & Algorithms (Udacity) Udacity
Georgia Institute of Technology,Udacity

Computability, Complexity & Algorithms (Udacity)

Computer Science

The Power and Limitation of Algorithms. In this course, we will ask the big questions, "What is a computer? What are the limits of computation? Are there problems that no computer will ever solve? Are there problems that can’t be solved quickly? What kinds of problems can we solve efficiently and how do we go about developing these algorithms?" Understanding the power and limitations of algorithms helps us develop the tools to make real-world computers smarter, faster and safer.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Algorithms Complexity Computability Theory
Details
Algorithms, Part II (Coursera) Coursera
Princeton University

Algorithms, Part II (Coursera)

CS: Software Engineering CS: Theory

This course covers the essential information that every serious programmer needs to know about algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on applications and scientific performance analysis of Java implementations. Part I covers elementary data structures, sorting, and searching algorithms. Part II focuses on graph- and string-processing algorithms.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Java Algorithms Data Structures
Details
Object Oriented Programming in Java (Udacity) Udacity
Udacity

Object Oriented Programming in Java (Udacity)

CS: Programming

Build Interactive Java Programs. This course will introduce you to some of the most powerful programming concepts in Java, including: objects, inheritance and collections. You will learn how to use these object-oriented programming concepts in code examples, discover how these concepts are used in applications that require user input, and understand the benefits of mastering these concepts in Java.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Programming Java Object-Oriented Programming
Details
JavaScript and the DOM (Udacity) Udacity
Udacity

JavaScript and the DOM (Udacity)

CS: Programming

Dynamically control the browser. JavaScript is an extremely powerful programming language. One place where its power truly shines is using it to control a web page. Through this course, you'll learn about the Document Object Model (DOM), how it's created, and what capabilities it provides. Then you'll use JavaScript and the DOM to add, delete, or alter page content; control page styling, and respond to user actions.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Programming Javascript DOM
Details
Swift for Beginners (Udacity) Udacity
Udacity

Swift for Beginners (Udacity)

CS: Programming

Your First Programming Language. In this course, you’ll begin learning Swift, Apple's programming language for building iOS applications. You'll start with fundamentals and work your way towards understanding all the core principles necessary to get started creating your first app. At the end of the course, you'll complete a problem set of exercises designed to challenge your understanding of Swift and give you the opportunity to apply what you've learned.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Programming Functions Strings
Details
High Performance Computing (Udacity) Udacity
Georgia Institute of Technology,Udacity

High Performance Computing (Udacity)

Computer Science

The goal of this course is to give you solid foundations for developing, analyzing, and implementing parallel and locality-efficient algorithms. This course focuses on theoretical underpinnings. To give a practical feeling for how algorithms map to and behave on real systems, we will supplement algorithmic theory with hands-on exercises on modern HPC systems, such as Cilk Plus or OpenMP on shared memory nodes, CUDA for graphics co-processors (GPUs), and MPI and PGAS models for distributed memory systems.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Algorithms OpenMP MPI
Details
HTML5 Canvas (Udacity) Udacity
Udacity

HTML5 Canvas (Udacity)

CS: Software Engineering CS: Programming

From Pixels to Animation! Canvas is an HTML5 element which gives you drawable surface inside your web pages you can control with JavaScript. Powerful enough to use for compositing images and even creating games. In this course, through several sample projects, you’ll learn how to use the canvas; how to make compositions using shapes, images, and text; how to create effects and filters on images and how to create animations.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Game Programming HTML
Details