Top 6 Free Data Structure and Algorithm Courses for Java and C Programmers

Data Structure and Algorithm is one of the essential topics for programmers, both to get a job and do well on Job. Good knowledge of data structure and algorithm is the foundation of writing good code. If you are familiar with essential data structures like an array, string, linked list, tree, map, and advanced data structure like Tries, AVL trees, etc and know when to use which data structure and compute the CPU and memory cost of your code in terms  Even though you don't need to write your own array, linked list or hash table, given every major programming SKD provides them like JDK or C++ STL library, you will need to understand them so that you can use them in right place. 

Using the right data structure can drastically improve the performance of an algorithm.

Ideally, we should all learn the data structure and algorithm in our school and college but it mostly didn't happen. Most of the programmers, including myself, only get introduced to a data structure in our computer science courses but we didn't really learn the real-world importance of them and that's why we didn't understand them better.

For us, they are just the algorithms and data structure like some concept, not a tool which you can use to write good programs like we didn't know that Facebook would use them to store our details or Google will use them to store web pages and linked to search queries. 

Anyway, it's never too late.

If you think that your data structure knowledge is not at par or you want to improve your data structure knowledge then you have come to the right place. 

Earlier, I have shared some of the free books to learn data structure and algorithms and in this article, you will learn about some of the best data structure and algorithm courses that are available for free online.

Btw, if you can spend some bucks to learn valuable skills like Data Structure and Algorithms then I highly recommend you to join Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java course by Tim Buchalaka on Udemy. This 16-hour course is one of the most comprehensive courses to learn Data structure with Java. 

6 Free Online Courses to Learn Data Structures and Algorithms

Here is my list of some of the best courses to learn Data structure and Algorithms which are also free. Many programmers think that free resources are not good which is not true, even though they can't match the quality and coverage of paid resources due to obvious reasons, they are in fact, the best resources to start with.

You can use these courses to get familiar with the essential data structure and learn some basics.  Some of them are particularly good from an interview point of view so you can use them alongside any book you are using to prepare for your programming job interview.

1. Data Structures in Java for Beginners [Free]

This is one of the best free data structure and algorithm courses from Udemy for all those people who want to learn data structure from absolute basic to advanced level. It doesn't expect you to have any prior knowledge of Data Structure, but a basic prior knowledge of Java is helpful

In this 1 hour 30 minutes long free course you will learn how to implement your own data structure and it covers both singly and doubly linked list. 

It will also teach you how to calculate time and space complexity for your solution which is very important from both Interview point of view as well as for writing high performance application. 

This is also an ideal course for Computer science students, Software working professionals who want to learn Data Structure and algorithms from an interview perspective. 

So, if you are looking to get a job at product-based companies like Amazon,, Google, Microsoft, or Facebook you can use this course to kick start your preparation.

More than 68,000 students have already joined this free DSA course and it has impressive rating. 

2. Algorithms Part 1 and Part 2 [Coursera]

This is another two-part, free course to learn Data Structure and Algorithms for Java Developers. This course is offered by Princeton University and its available on Coursera for FREE. 

It's actually the most popular free Coursera course for Java developers and more than 830K people have joined the first part and 230K have joined the second part. 

The first part of this course covers essential data structures like arrays, linked lists as well as basic algorithms like the searching and sorting algorithms. While part 2 covers advanced algorithms like graph and string-based algorithms.   

Unlike other Coursera courses where you need to pay for assessments, quizzes, and certificates, this is Algorithms course is completely free, you can take assessment and quizzes for free but it doesn't offer a certificate of completion. 

You will also learn the trade-offs involved with choosing each data structure and algorithm and see some examples from the real world.  You can take both part 1 and part 2 together to revise all the data structures you need to know for a coding interview.

By the way, if you find Coursera courses useful and want to join multiple courses then I suggest you should take Coursera Plus, a subscription plan from Coursera which 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.

3. Data Structures Concepts in C [Free]

This is another free, online algorithm and data structure training course which aims to teach basic data structures in computer programming. The data structures taught in the course include Stack, Queue, and Linked List using the C programming language. 

The primary goal is to make students and software engineers visualize how different data structures work.

This is not an exhaustive course given it's free, but you will learn about Stack, Queue, and inked List.
In short, a great course for programmers new to data structures. 4

Those who have just learned a programming language and want to learn the basics of how data structures work.

You will also learn how to visualize different data structure which will help you to understand how to choose the right data structure for a particular scenario.  

More than 42K people have already joined this free Data structure course on Udemy and it has awesome ratings and reviews. 

4. Algorithms and Data Structures - Part 1 and 2 [Pluralsight Free Trial]

This is the first part of a two-part series of courses covering algorithms and data structures on Pluralsight. In this part, you will learn essential data structures like linked lists, stacks, queues, binary trees, and hash tables.

You will also learn about core data structures and algorithms used in everyday applications and understand the trade-offs involved with choosing each data structure, along with traversal, retrieval, and update algorithms.

In the second part of a two-part series of courses covering data structures and algorithms. In this part, you will learn algorithms like sorting, string searching, sets, AVL trees, and concurrency issues. You will also learn some advanced data structures and algorithms used in application development.

Btw, this course is not completely free, you need a Pluralsight membership to join this course, which is worth of money. But, you can make it free, you can still do that by signing up for their free trial. They give a 10-day free trial which is more than enough to complete this course.

5. Data Structure in Java [Free Course]

This is an introductory online course on data structures, algorithms, and complexity analysis on Udemy.  It will teach you the design, implementation, and analysis of basic data structures using Java language. 

The best part of this 5 and half our long free Data Structure course is the tons of practical examples and focuses on intuition, rather than formulas and mathematical proofs.

The course particularly provides a good introduction for "complexity analysis" which makes it possible to spot a poorly (and a great) performing program, even without the need for executing it. 

More than 72,000 folks have joined this free DSA course in C and it has on average 4.4 rating which is amazing. 

6. A Visual Introduction to Algorithms [Educative]

This is another free, interactive, text-based course to learn about Data Structure and Algorithms on Educative, a new online learning platform for programmers and Software engineers. 

What separate this course from other free course on this list is that it allow you to practice in your browser, which means you can create your own data structure and solve the existing problem right in your browser without installing any IDE, Java or any other software. 

In this free Algorithm course you will not only learn about introductory computer science algorithms like searching, sorting, recursion but also about advanced concepts like Graph theory. It also has many quizzes, exercise and visualization which makes learning really easy.

On top of that you can solve the coding challenge given in this course on Java, Python, C++, and JavaScript, which means there is no language barrier and the course is equally useful for not just Java and C++ developer but also Python and JavaScript developer. 

By the way, Educative is one of my favorite learning platform as it got the best courses for coding interviews like this Grokking Modern System Design course  and this Coding Interview pattern course where you will learn 15 essential coding patterns like sliding window, fast and slow pointer etc which can be used to solve 100+  LeetCode coding problems. 

And, If you like the Educative platform then you can also join Educative Unlimited which gives access to their more than 300+ interactive courses and learning path for just $14.9 per month on annual plans. Its also quite useful if you are preparing for coding interviews. 

Data Structures and Algorithms Cheat Sheet

And, here is a nice Data Structures and Algorithms cheat sheet which you can refer to quickly revise essential Data Structures and Algorithms concepts. I highly recommend you to review this cheat sheet before you go for any coding interview, both online, telephonic and face-to-face. 

That's all about some of the free data structure and algorithm courses available online. You can use these courses to learn data structure and algorithms at your own pace. Given they are free resources, they may not be complete but they do provide a good introduction. 

Once you go through these courses you can pick a good book like Introduction to Algorithms to further supplement your knowledge. The new 4th Edition of this book is really amazing. 


Other Programming Resources you may like to explore:

• 5 Free Spring  Framework Courses for Java Developers
• 5 Online Courses to learn Core Java for Free
• 5 Online training courses to learn Angular for Free
• 5 Node JS courses for Java and Web Developers
• 5 Courses to Learn Big Data and Apache Spark
• 10 Algorithm Books for Every Programmer
• 7 Best Data Structure and Algorithms Courses for Programmers
• 10 Free Courses to learn Python for Beginners
• 10 Free Courses to Learn Coding for Beginners
• 10 Free SQL and Database Courses for Programmers
• 5 Free Courses to learn Linux for Beginners
• 5 Best Data Structure and Algorithms courses in Java

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

P. S. - If you don't mind spending few bucks on learning fundamental skills like Data Structure and algorithms then I highly recommend you to check Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java course by Tim Buchalaka on Udemy. It's one of the best courses to learn Data Structure for Java developers.