Algorithms, Part II
- Free
- No certificate
- Intermediate
- 6 weeks
Algorithms, Part II continues Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne's Princeton course and focuses on graph- and string-processing algorithms, again with Java implementations and scientific performance analysis. Its fourteen modules cover undirected and directed graphs, minimum spanning trees, shortest paths, maximum flow and minimum cut, radix sorts, tries, substring search, regular expressions, data compression, reductions, an optional module on linear programming, and intractability. The workload is weekly programming assignments and interview questions. Coursera labels the course intermediate level with a flexible schedule and estimates six weeks at ten hours a week.
As with Part I, the course page states that all features are available for free and that no certificates, credentials or reports are awarded under Princeton University policy. The textbook Algorithms, Fourth Edition is suggested for those who want to dig deeper but is not required. The page describes Part I as covering the elementary data structures, sorting and searching that Part II builds on.
What you’ll learn
- Process undirected and directed graphs and compute minimum spanning trees and shortest paths
- Solve maximum-flow and minimum-cut problems
- Sort and search strings with radix sorts, tries and substring search
- Implement regular expressions and data compression
- Use reductions and understand intractability
Who it’s for
Programmers who have covered basic data structures and want graph algorithms, string processing and complexity theory at a rigorous level.
Syllabus
14 sections as listed on coursera.org, 62 h 44 min in total.
- Introduction 10 min
- Undirected Graphs 2 h 9 min
- Directed Graphs 9 h 38 min
- Minimum Spanning Trees 1 h 56 min
- Shortest Paths 9 h 55 min
- Maximum Flow and Minimum Cut 7 h 42 min
- Radix Sorts 1 h 55 min
- Tries 1 h 55 min
- Substring Search 9 h 55 min
- Regular Expressions 2 h 13 min
- Data Compression 10 hours
- Reductions 1 h 30 min
- Linear Programming (optional) 1 h 41 min
- Intractability 2 h 5 min
Instructors
- Robert Sedgewick William O. Baker *39 Professor in Computer Science, Emeritus, Computer Science, Princeton University
- Kevin Wayne Phillip Y. Goldman '86 University Lecturer, Computer Science, Princeton University
Course details
- Skills covered
- Graph Theory
- Algorithms
- Java Programming
- Java
- Data Structures
- Includes
- 14 modules · 13 assignments
- Prerequisites
- Some related experience required
- Subtitles
- 25 languages
On coursera.org
Rated 4.9 out of 5 by 2,050 learners; 348,849 enrolled, as shown on the course page on 20 Oct 2026. These are coursera.org’s own figures, not ours.
Source: Princeton Online (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
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