From IITs, ISRO, IISc to MIT and Harvard, here is a list of free online computer programming courses!

In today's competitive world, taking an edge and standing out is not easy. But you can definitely be ahead in the race if you constantly keep learning and updating your skills according to the needs of the industry. With technology, the best of the best resources and teachers are just a click away on your gadgets and this pandemic is probably the most ideal time to indulge in short online courses from top IT universities like IITs, NIT, ISRO, IISC, MIT, and Harvard so that your CV speaks for itself. These sought-after, prestigious universities are inviting applications for computer programming courses and this is your chance to take an edge and be the best in your field!

These amazing online courses can be taken by IT professionals and students who are looking to upskill and thrive in the industry. This will not only give a massive boost to the CV  but also help in polishing market-oriented skills and be certified in the domains.

The dream universities have rolled out applications for various upskilling programs. Here is a list of the online courses being offered by the best universities for free!

1. MIT: Computer Programming using Python

MIT has introduced a new course on computer programming using Python for the students and professionals for upskilling. The course will offer an insight into the informal introduction to algorithmic complexity, Python programming language, etc.

Overview of the course

The course is named "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python". The objective of this course is to provide learners with a brief introduction to many computer programming concepts so as to give them an idea of what is possible when they need to think about how to use computation to accomplish some goal later in their career.

Python is the most sought-after programming language skill by IT professionals and the demand for skilled Python developers is also very high in the job market. In this course, learners will be taught the nuances of programming using Python 3.5.

Course format

The class will consist of lecture videos, lecture exercises, and problem sets using Python 3.5. The lecture videos are broken into small pieces usually between eight and twelve minutes each. Some of these may contain integrated "check-yourself" questions. Even if you have knowledge of Python 2.7, you will be able to easily transition to Python 3.5 in this course. There will also be programming assignments and standalone exams/quizzes, which are not part of the video lectures.

What do learners gain from it?

• A Notion of computation
• The Python programming language
• Some simple algorithms
• Testing and debugging
• An informal introduction to algorithmic complexity
• Data structures

Course instructors

The course is instructed by 3 MIT professors:

• John Guttag, Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at MIT
• Eric Grimson, Bernard Gordon Professor of Medical Engineering, Professor of Computer Science at MIT
• Ana Bell, Lecturer, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering at MIT

System Requirements

You need to have a computer running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows, version XP or greater (XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7)
• Apple OSX, version 10.2 or greater 
• Linux - most distributions that have been released within the past two years should work

In addition, you will need the ability to download, install, and run software on your computer.

Other important details

• This is an instructor-paced course; however, students can watch the lectures at their leisure and do not need to watch the lectures live or at any set time.
• The registrations are open as the course starts on June 2 and will end on August 5.
• The course is free.

Enroll Now! To enroll in this program, you can visit the MITx course page here.

2. Harvard University: Computer Programming for Beginners

Harvard University is offering five online courses in Computer Programming for beginners. The course will include-

• CS50's Understanding Technology

This newly-launched course is for students who don’t (yet) consider themselves computer persons. The CS50's Understanding Technology course is designed for people who are working with technology every day even without understanding how it all works. This course fills in the gaps, empowering beginners to use and troubleshoot technology more effectively. The 6-week long course includes lectures on hardware, the Internet, multimedia, security, programming, and web development.

Details of the course

Enroll here >>

• CS50's Introduction to Programming with Scratch

Scratch is a visual programming language, designed at MIT's Media Lab, to empower students with no prior programming experience to design their own animations, games, interactive art, and stories. Using Scratch, this course introduces students to fundamentals of programming, found not only in Scratch itself but in traditional text-based languages (like Java and Python) as well.

The course includes important elements of a programming language, including, but not limited to, functions, events, return values, conditions, loops, variables, and more. Ultimately, this course prepares students for subsequent courses in programming.

Details of the course

Enroll here >>

• CS50: Introduction to Computer Science

An entry-level course CS50x teaches students how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently. This is a basic course that every aspirant must enroll to, to understand the gimmicks of computer science. The course is specifically designed for freshers and includes concepts like abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Languages include C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS and HTML.

Details of the course

Enroll here >>

• CS50's Introduction to Game Development

This course is more like a hands-on experience for learners as they explore the design and development of 2D and 3D interactive games such as Super Mario Bros., Pong, Flappy Bird, Breakout, Match 3, Legend of Zelda, Angry Birds, Pokémon, 3D Helicopter Game, Dreadhalls, and Portal. Via lectures and hands-on projects, the course explores principles of 2D and 3D graphics, animation, sound, and collision detection using frameworks like Unity and LÖVE 2D, as well as languages like Lua and C#.

Details of the course

Enroll here >>

• CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

This special course explores the concepts and algorithms at the foundation of modern artificial intelligence, diving into the ideas that give rise to technologies like game-playing engines, handwriting recognition, and machine translation. Through hands-on projects, students gain exposure to the theory behind graph search algorithms, classification, optimization, reinforcement learning, and other topics in artificial intelligence and machine learning as they incorporate them into their own Python programs.

Details of the course

Enroll here >>

3. IISc Bangalore: Design for the Internet of Things

IISc Bangalore is offering design for the Internet of Things courses via the NPTEL platform. The course will cover the system designs offering an overview of IoT and smart objects. The 8-week course can be taken by electronic and communication engineers, electrical engineers, and control and instrumentation engineers.

Topics to be covered in the course

• Introduction to IoT: Definition, applications, challenges: unique ID, power, security, and location
• Addressing the power challenge: RFID, energy harvesting, battery-based systems, and power management systems
• System design for low power: LDO, DC-DC converters, and low power software
• Sensors and actuators: Temperature sensor, air quality, and Solenoid valves
• Power management algorithms
• IoT protocols: MQTT, COAP, and Websockets with associated applications
• Low power wireless technologies such as BLE, IEEE 802.15.4e, and Wi-Fi
• Low power wire area technologies: NBIoT, CAT – LTE-M1, and LORA.

Who can enroll?

The course is open to all participants who wish to learn about IoT technology, it would be most beneficial for engineering students from the below streams:

• Electrical engineering.
• Electronics and Communications engineering
• Control and Instrumentation engineering

Details of the course

Apply Now

4. NIT Warangal: Course on Python for Machine Learning

NIT Warangal is offering an online course on Python for Machine Learning that will be conducted from July 26 to July 30 for three hours each. The session includes the training and knowledge on Python fundamentals along with its major aspects on Machine Learning.

Overview of the course

This short term course aims at imparting knowledge and training on the fundamentals of Python with different aspects and applications to Machine Learning.

Highlights of the Course

• The course will be conducted three hours a day with no overlap to the regular office hours
• The sessions will begin in the evening time, possibly after 5PM
• Hands-on using Python

Topics to be covered

• Introduction to Python: Installation, Python Editors
• Variables, Objects, Operators, Primitive Data Types Compound Data types: List, Tuples, Sets, Dictionaries
• Conditional Statements Loops: for, while, do while
• Functions, Building your own functions
• Numpy: Multi-dimensional Arrays
• Matplotlib: 2D and 3D plotting in python Regular Expressions
• Scipy: Scientific library for python Pandas: Providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures
• SymPy: Symbolic mathematics and computer algebra
• scikit-image: Collection of algorithms for image processing
• scikit-learn is a collection of algorithms and tools for machine learning

Who can apply?

Registration is open to faculty members in all disciplines of Engineering, Sciences, Mathematics, Life sciences, Management, Post Doctoral Fellows, Research Scholars, PG students, UG students who wish to pursue a career in Machine learning using Python.

Registration fee

• Faculty, Post doctoral fellows , Research Scholars, PG students, UG students: Rs 500
• Industry participants: Rs 1000

How to Apply?

Eligible candidates can apply by filling the google form with payment proof on or before 20 July 2021. Apply Now

5. ISRO: Machine Learning to Deep Learning

ISRO is offering free online certification on Machine Learning to Deep Learning: A journey to remote sensing data classification. The 5-day course is conducted by ISRO through the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS).

Interested participants can enrol for the online course that will be conducted between July 5 to July 9 between 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. The professionals that work with different applications on remote sensing data processing can participate in it.

Course Schedule

• July 5th - Remote Sensing and its sensors of various resolutions. Radiometry and Geometric corrections and Basic understanding of Image.
• July 6th - Basic classifier to Machine Learning – A Journey
• July 7th - Methods in Machine Learning: Supervised, Unsupervised and Reinforcement.
• July 8th - Fuzzy based machine learning with application in Temporal data processing.
• July 9th - Network-based Learning algorithms – ANN to CNN/RNN

The course will be available on the YouTube channel for free. Candidates can apply here.

6. IIT Kharagpur: Machine Learning course

IIT Kharagpur is offering online Machine Learning courses via the NPTEL platform. The course will start on July 26 and ends on September 17 for the professionals and students covering the majors of Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Data, and Text Mining.

The candidates will get the certification from NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur and can take an examination that is to be conducted on September 26, 2021, with the payment of Rs 1000. It will give two credit points to the students that can come in handy to the engineering students.

The Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kharagpur, Professor Sudheshna Sarkar will conduct the online course. He completed his B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in 1989 followed by the MS from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995, he gained his PhD from IIT Kharagpur and has an interest in Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Text Mining, and Data.

The free online course on Machine Learning can be taken by professionals and students with proficiency or interest in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Engineering, Programming, Data Science, and Robotics. It can serve as an elective course for postgraduate, undergraduate, MSc, BE, ME, MS and PhD students.

Machine Learning syllabus overview

• Basics of computational learning theory and issues related to machine learning algorithms and applications
• Solving hands-on-problems with programming in Python and tutorial sessions
• Linear regression, overfitting, and Decision trees
• Introduction: Basics, hypothesis space, type of learning, evaluation, inductive bias, cross-validation
• Probability and Bayes learning
• Instance-based learning, collaborative filtering-based recommendation, and feature reduction
• Neural network: multilayer network, perceptron, introduction to the deep neural network, and backpropagation
• Logistic regression, kernel function, support vector machine, and kernel SVM
• Clustering: Gaussian mixture, adaptive hierarchical clustering, and k-mean model
• Computational learning theory, sample complexity, PAC learning model, Ensemble learning, and VC Dimension

Interested candidates can join the course on the official website before August 2, 2021, via SWAYAM NPTEL platform login that can be done using Facebook, Microsoft, and Google accounts.

7. ISRO: Web GIS Technology

ISRO is offering free online certification on Web Geographic Information System Technology that is a great chance for the participants to learn from renowned scientists. The 12-day course will offer great insights into the major GIS technology concepts and awards with a certification.

Anyone can enroll for the course. From students who are currently pursuing their undergraduate or postgraduate degrees to experienced professionals.

Topics to be covered

1. Introduction to Client-server systems, internet and web GIS technology
2. Introduction to HTML and JavaScript
3. Introduction of Database Management System- SQL queries and data visualisation
4. Spatial SQL and Geo-visualisationQGIS and web
5. OGC Web services and data publishing using Geoserver
6. Hands-on experiment on GeoserverSLD, WMS, WFS, WCS and other services
7. Web Mapping APIs – Open Layers
8. Development of Web GIS applications using mashup architecture
9. Web GIS applications for governance

• Course starts: 21 June 2021
• Course ends : 02 July 2021
• Register Now

8. IIT Kharagpur: Java programming

IIT Kharagpur is offering online courses on Java for undergraduates from disciplines of Computer Science Engineering, Information Technology, EE, and ECE to improve their programming skills and understand the object-oriented paradigm.

Prof. Debasis Samanta, a member at IIT Kharagpur Department of Computer Science He has a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kharagpur will conduct the course. He has work experience and research interests include areas of Data Analytics, Computational Intelligence, Brain Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, and Biometric Systems.

Topics to be covered in Programming in Java course

• Overview of Object-Oriented Programming and Java
• Networking in Java
• Encapsulation
• Java Programming elements
• Inheritance
• Input-Output Handling in Java
• Multithreaded Programming
• Exception Handling
• Java Swing and Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT)
• Java Applets and Servlets
• Interface and Packages for Software Development
• Java Object Database Connectivity (ODC)

The candidates can enrol for the course from May 20 to August 2, 2021, whereas the examination registration will be open from June 17 to September 17, 2021. The examination date is October 23, 2021. Interested candidates can apply here.

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