Top 10 Free Data Structure and Algorithms Courses for Beginners — Best of Lot

Algorithms and Data Structure are two of the most fundamentals and essential topics from Computer Science, which is used everywhere in software development.

I firmly believe that a good knowledge of these two topics is also crucial to become a better programmer because a person who has a good understanding of algorithms and data structures can make thoughtful choices and write programs that can handle changes better and perform well.

They are also essential to crack coding interviews at top tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple, which puts a lot of emphasis on candidate’s ability to use existing data structure and algorithms to solve complex problems they have never seen before.

The only way to succeed in those interviews is a strong knowledge of all fundamental algorithms, data structures, and programming techniques like Recursion, Bit Manipulation, etc.

Another thing which I have noticed a lot in programmers is shallow/partial knowledge of data structures. Many programmers think that just knowing the array or linked list is enough, but that’s true because everybody knows that.

To distinguish yourself from the crowd, you also need to explore advanced data structures like a binary tree, binary search tree, balanced tree, heaps, graphs, hash tables, doubly linked list, circular list, stack, queue, a tree with more than two nodes, etc.

If you are determined to take your data structure and algorithm skill to the next level and looking for some excellent free resources, then you have come to the right place.

In the past, I have shared some books, tutorials, and interview questions on algorithms and data structure, and today, I’ll share some of the best courses on data structure and algorithms, which are also FREE.

These are online courses, so you can use them to learn data structure and algorithms in the comfort of your office or home. You can also go at your pace and spend time on topics you find hard to understand.

These courses cover both basic data structure like an array, linked list, and binary tree as well as advanced data structure like a stack, queue, trie, balanced tree, graphs, etc.

10 Best Free Data Structures and Algorithms Tutorials for Programmers

Without any further ado, here is my list of some of the freely available courses to learn data structure and algorithms. I have purposefully included courses that teach this topic on different programming languages like C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, etc; because even though the data structures and algorithms are generic, you can understand the implementation better if they are given in the programming language you know better.

1. Algorithms Part 1 — Coursera

This is another fine course on algorithms from Coursera. This course takes you on a guided tour of the field of data structures, algorithms, and complexity analysis. The concepts are language-independent, and solutions and Big O calculations are done in Java.

It’s a two-part course, in which the first part covers basic data structures, sorting, and searching algorithms, and the second part focuses on the graph and string-processing algorithms.

Here is the link to join this free course — Algorithms Part 1 — Coursera

The course is offered free from Princeton University, and both instructors Kevin Wayne and Robert Sedgewick are expert authors and lecturers. Robert Sedgewick has also authored Algorithms book, one of the best books to learn Data Structure and Algorithms in Java.

Algorithms (4th Edition)

Talking about social proof, the course has got on average 4.9 reviews from 1000 reviewers which is amazing. Once you enroll you will have access to all course material and it’s completely free but no certificate of completion will be given, unlike other Coursera courses.

And, if you find Coursera courses useful, which they are because they are created by reputed companies like Google, IBM, Amazon, and the best universities around the world, I suggest you join the Coursera Plus, a subscription plan from Coursera

Coursera Plus | Unlimited Access to 7,000+ Online Courses

This single subscription gives you unlimited access to their most popular courses, specialization, professional certificate, and guided projects. It cost around $399/year but its complete worth of your money as you get unlimited certificates.

And here is the link to the second part of this course, Algorithms Part II, its also completely free

Algorithms, Part II

2. Data Structure [Free Udemy Course]

This is a beginner’s course to learn design, implementation, and analysis of basic data structures using Java language.

The course covers well-known data structures such as dynamic arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, and binary trees.

There is also the second part of this course but that is not free and that’s why I have not included it in this list, but if you like this course you may explore Data Structure — Part II as well.

Here is the link to join this course — Data Structure — Part I

3. Easy to Advanced Data Structures

This is one of the best courses you can get for free to learn data structure and algorithms. The course contains over 8 hours of content and, as the name suggests, covers both easy and advanced data structures.

You will learn about the array, linked list, dynamic array, stack, queue, doubly linked list, priority queues, hash tables, binary search trees, Fenwick tree/binary indexed tree, AVL tree, and Indexed priority queue.

You will also learn about the union-find/disjoint set, Kruskal’s Algorithm, and Path compression.

In short, a complete guide to learning about data structures and algorithms. Big thanks to instructor William Fiset for keeping this excellent course free.

Here is the link to join this course — Easy to Advanced Data Structures

4. Graph Theory Algorithms

Many programmers, as well as online courses, shy away from teaching Graph algorithms because it’s complex and difficult to learn and implement but that’s where it becomes important.

Many real-world problems can be solved using graphs like the shortest path between cities and routes airline takes. Thankfully, you have a free course that provides a complete overview of graph theory algorithms in computer science and mathematics.

Here is the link to join this course — Graph Theory Algorithms

In this course, you will learn about common graph traversal algorithms like depth-first traversal and level order traversal, Dijkstra’s algorithm, Topological sort algorithm, Shortest/longest path on an acyclic graph, Bellman Ford’s algorithm, Floyd-Warshall all pairs shortest path algorithm, Finding bridges/articulation points, and Finding strongly connected components (Tarjan’s)

You will also learn how to implement and store graphs on a computer. In short, a perfect course to learn about graph data structure and algorithms.

Graph Theory Algorithms

5. Dynamic Programming — I

Dynamic Programming is an important technique to solve complex coding problems in interviews.

If you are preparing for job interviews then apart from knowing data structures and algorithms, you should also learn about programming techniques like recursion, iteration, and dynamic programming.

The course discusses many programming problems that can be solved using dynamic programming techniques like Longest Increasing Subsequence, Sum of the Range, Share market analysis, and many more.

Here is the link to join this course — Dynamic Programming — I

After solving those questions and understanding their analysis you will help you to develop a strong intuition for any kind of Dynamic programming problem when approaching to solve new problems.

Dynamic Programming — I

6. Data Structures Concepts & Singly Linked List Implementation

This is a short course to learn basic data structures like an array, linked list, stack, queue, and deque in the C programming language.

You will learn to implement various linked list operations using the C programming language like finding a node, appending a node, deleting a node, adding a node to a position, traversing a linked list, and preparing a node.

You will also learn to solve some common linked list based coding problems like Insert node at end of the linked list, Insert a node at beginning of the linked list, Deletion of a node from the beginning, and deletion of a node from the end.

Here is the link to join this course — Data Structures Concepts & Singly Linked List Implementation

Free Data Structures Tutorial — Data Structures Concepts & Singly Linked List Implementation

7. Introduction to Algorithms and Data structures in C++

This is a great course to learn fundamental data structures and algorithms in C++. The instructor, Andrei Margeloiu has a lot of experience in solving algorithmic problems and participated in and win several coding competitions even organized by Google and Facebook.

In this course, you will not only learn about fundamental data structures like an array and linked list, stack, and queue but you will also learn about practical techniques to solve algorithmic problems.

The instructor also shows you how to debug and analyze algorithmic complexity and Big(O) numbers. He also uses a lot of diagrams to convey his thoughts better and teach you visually, which is very important for a data structure and algorithm course.

Here is the link to join this course —Introduction to Algorithms and Data structures in C++

In short, a nice free course to learn from an expert who himself has solved 1000+ algorithmic problems. Even though, I know the topic, I have learned a couple of nice tricks from this course, a big thanks to Andrei for keeping this course free.

8. Data Structures in Java for Noobs (Lite Edition)

This course is very similar to the previous course except that it teaches you in Java language and it completely focuses on a linked list, like both singly and doubly-linked lists.

You will learn about all the linked list operations and how to implement it using Java Programming language like adding a node, deleting a node from both beginning and end. Overall, a short course to focus on a linked list data structure.

Here is the link to join this course — Data Structures in Java for Noobs

9. Getting Interview Ready — Data Structures

This is a great course to learn data structure and algorithms if you are preparing for an interview and don’t have much time. The course is neither very long nor very short and just contains 3 hours’ worth of content.

In that three hours, you will not only learn the basics of an array, linked list, binary tree, binary search tree, stack, queue, AVL, and splay trees but also solve some coding problems and learn some tricks to do well on coding interviews.

The course is absolutely free at the time of writing but it can turn to the paid course anytime, hence I suggest you join early before the instructor converts it to a paid course.

Here is the link to join this course- Getting Interview Ready — Data Structures

10. Algorithms and Data Structures — Part 1

This is a two-part series, comprehensive course to learn algorithms and data structure. The course is focused on core data structures and algorithms used in everyday applications.

You will learn the trade-offs involved with choosing each data structure, along with traversal, retrieval, and update algorithms.

The first part of this series covers basic data structures like linked lists, stacks, queues, binary trees, and hash tables and the second part focuses on advanced data structures and algorithms like data sorting, string searching, sets, AVL trees, and concurrency issues.

Algorithms and Data Structures — Part 1

Btw, the last two algorithms and data structure courses from Pluralsight is not exactly free as you need Pluralsight membership to access them. If you are not a member then a Pluralsight monthly membership costs you around $29 per month and an annual membership around $299 dollar, which also provides you access to more than 5000+ latest technology courses.

I have a Pluralsight membership and it’s my go-to place to learn new stuff, but if you just want to access these courses then you can also try Pluralsight free trial, which provides 10-day access to all Pluralsight contents.

And if you don’t mind paying money for some worth taking courses then you may check out these paid algorithms courses as well:

1. Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java
2. Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions
3. Data Structures & Algorithms — Interview !!

That’s all about some of the best free Algorithms and Data Structure courses. Good knowledge of data structures and algorithms goes a long way in making you a good programmer.

They help you to write better code and also help you to do well in coding interviews where you will always find some questions on algorithms and data structure.

If you feel you need to improve your understanding of the algorithms these courses are great to start and you won’t need to worry about money because they are free.

Also, even though most of these courses are free and once you enroll you will have lifetime access to the course material just be careful with Udemy free courses.

Most of them are made free for promotional purposes and sometimes when they achieve their target in terms of ratings and reviews to collect the social proof, their instructor converts them to a paid course.

It’s always better to check the price of the course before you click the enroll button.

Other Programming Resources you may like
50+ Data Structure and Algorithms Interview Questions
10 courses for Programming/Coding Job Interviews
75+ Coding Interview Questions for Programmers
30+ Array-Based Questions from Interviews
30+ LinkedList Based Java Interview Questions
Grokking Algorithms — Book Review
21 String Programming Questions from Interviews
10 Data Structure and Algorithms Courses for Interviews
How to solve scenario-based Algorithms Interview Questions
Top 5 Data Structure and Algorithms Books for Programmers

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these free Algorithms and Data structure courses then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

P.S. — If you don’t mind paying $10 for a good course and value your time more than money then I suggest you check out this list of best Data Structure and Algorithms courses.

Top 10 Data Structure and Algorithms courses for Java Developers

P.S.S — If you prefer books over courses, then you should check my list of 10 Algorithms books every programmer should read.

10 Best Books for Data Structure and Algorithms for Beginners in Java, C/C++, and Python