Algorithms for DNA Sequencing
Johns Hopkins University · View on Coursera ↗
Taught by Ben Langmead, PhD, Jacob Pritt
Data ScienceComputer Science
About the course
We will learn computational methods -- algorithms and data structures -- for analyzing DNA sequencing data. We will learn a little about DNA, genomics, and how DNA sequencing is used. We will use Python to implement key algorithms and data structures and to analyze real genomes and DNA sequencing datasets.
The dissent
The most-upvoted critical review (13 votes, 3.0★).
“I am torn about this class. On one hand, there was some good information, and I definitely learned more throughout the course. On the other hand, as a biologist trying to learn programming, this course was insufficient. Very little of the programming code was explained (and considered obvious?). I spent a lot of time googling to understand the code so that I could not only learn but complete the assignments. There are some concepts (like the use of __init__) which I still do not understand. Also, the "hints" to accomplish the homework assignments were definitely not well explained. I only managed to increase the speed of my programs by going through the discussion forums for hours until I found something that helped.”
Coursera's 4.7 comes from 937 ratings. Of those, 1.9% are 1–2★.
Starisk reads the reviews learners voted most helpful, and weights each by the square root of its votes: a review with 80 upvotes counts about five times one with 2. Unvoted reviews are not skipped out of laziness — by this model they carry no evidence that other students endorsed them.
That measures what the most-endorsed reviews say, not “true quality.” The rating distribution above is the whole population, so you can see the sample next to it.
Reviews read on 23 Oct 2026.Read them on Coursera ↗