Q#
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Azure Quantum documentation, QDK & Q# API reference - Azure Quantum
Learn about quantum computing with the Azure Quantum service. Use Python and Q#, a language for quantum programming, to write your first quantum program.
My attention is required elsewhere, so I'm just going to leave this here for other people to investigate and draw their own conclusions.
Thank you for your interest in Microsoft Quantum Development Kit preview. The development kit contains the tools you'll need to build your own quantum computing programs and experiments. Assuming some experience with Microsoft Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code, beginners can write their first quantum program, and experienced researchers can quickly and efficiently develop new quantum algorithms.
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Interesting, I might give it a look.
That said, I've done an extensive personal study of physics, including quantum mechanics (at a conceptual level, not a mathematical level), as well as having a Computer Science degree and 10 years programming experience, and I've read a number of articles, introductions, and samples on quantum computing, and I still don't understand what quantum computing is.
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Interesting, I might give it a look.
That said, I've done an extensive personal study of physics, including quantum mechanics (at a conceptual level, not a mathematical level), as well as having a Computer Science degree and 10 years programming experience, and I've read a number of articles, introductions, and samples on quantum computing, and I still don't understand what quantum computing is.
Does it even need a quantum computer?
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@tharpa I've looked at one or two "quantum" languages before. They can run on classical computers but I guess the results aren't quantum-accurate or whatever. But it's good enough to play around with and learn though, as I understand it. I'd guess eigenstates are selected with rand() or something, so you get the double-bizarreness that is a quantum algorithm running deterministically.
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Well that was a dead end. The Q# development environment is a Visual Studio 2017 extension that refuses to install on Visual Studio 2017 for me because I have no compatible versions of Visual Studio installed.
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Well that was a dead end. The Q# development environment is a Visual Studio 2017 extension that refuses to install on Visual Studio 2017 for me because I have no compatible versions of Visual Studio installed.
It probably would have little practical use for you anyway. It looks like they might only be mainframes, because "“Qubits are tremendously fragile: Any noise or unintended observation of them can cause data loss. This fragility requires them to operate at about 20 millikelvin – 250 times colder than deep space.” This is also why we won’t be seeing quantum computers in anyone’s house at any point. "
Intel Unveils 'Breakthrough' Quantum Computer
Intel has announced a new milestone in quantum computing, with 49 qubits now available. That's a huge step forward for the company compared with the 17-qubit system it showed just months ago.
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@tharpa It certainly has no practical use. I just found it interesting and wanted to play.
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I read on a tech site somewhere (can't remember where now) that in the future you would have a Quantum Processing Unit to install into your computer much like you do a GPU.
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Apparently I wasn't talking total nonsense.
Looks like they will have a farm somewhere and that will communicate with the Quantum Computing Unit.
However I still don't really understand anything about what Quantum Computing will actually do.
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@sweaty_gammon said in Q#:
Apparently I wasn't talking total nonsense.
Looks like they will have a farm somewhere and that will communicate with the Quantum Computing Unit.
However I still don't really understand anything about what Quantum Computing will actually do.
One application is thought to be in cryptography. You could determine if anyone has viewed a message.
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As I once had it explained to me (probably on computerphile) it works with probability. So if you have an 8-bit quantum computer, you can perform operations to manipulate the probability of each of the 2^8=256 values those bits can take, then finally observe the bits to get the answer. This is apparently efficient because you only need to manipulate those 8 bits, not all 256 potential values.
I got doubtful though because it is unclear to me whether the amount of manipulations to get the desired probabilities scales with the number of bits, or with the number of relations between bits.
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@tharpa If it did, it'd be quite useless for a couple decades.
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As I once had it explained to me (probably on computerphile) it works with probability. So if you have an 8-bit quantum computer, you can perform operations to manipulate the probability of each of the 2^8=256 values those bits can take, then finally observe the bits to get the answer.
So … how long after this gets fired up will there be a sperm whale falling from the sky?
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@sweaty_gammon said in Q#:
Apparently I wasn't talking total nonsense.
Looks like they will have a farm somewhere and that will communicate with the Quantum Computing Unit.
However I still don't really understand anything about what Quantum Computing will actually do.
One application is thought to be in cryptography. You could determine if anyone has viewed a message.
You might also be able to quickly break current encryption methods based on the difficulty involved in factoring very large numbers.
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Actually, when I first saw the topic title I was worried that Initiative Q had hard forked or something.
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@Gurth Flowerpots falling from the sky are much easier, and for bonus ducks you can position them above the head of anyone using this.
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@pie_flavor said in Q#:
Flowerpots falling from the sky are much easier
Only if they contain petunias where those petunias are thinking “Oh no, not again.”
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@sweaty_gammon said in Q#:
However I still don't really understand anything about what Quantum Computing will actually do.
Theoretically, you can use it to search large spaces of numbers for values that satisfy properties and to do that search in parallel, such that you can find if any value in 264 satisfies some test with effort proportional to only 64 (the number of quantum bits you'd need to do it). All you have to do is to ensure that the operations you perform on your system of qbits enact the property you want to test and then see which states have not yet ceased to be after you've done it all. (I don't know how that works.)
Except it's apparently insanely difficult to actually do. It's currently significantly quicker, cheaper and simpler to build a standard supercomputer to do that sort of search. Part of the problem is that any noise in the system will bugger everything up completely, introducing correlations you don't want and eliminating states you want to keep; there are apparently qbit implementations that are resistant to that sort of thing, but they also don't like interacting with each other making them not great for a quantum computer anyway.
I suspect there won't be many quantum computers deployed anywhere for the next couple of decades at least, at the very least not unless someone makes a breakthrough to make it all possible without hyper-cryonics.
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One application is thought to be in cryptography.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor's_algorithm
And for an introductory (if you can ignore her waving her hands around all the time):
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@pie_flavor said in Q#:
Flowerpots falling from the sky are much easier
Only if they contain petunias where those petunias are thinking “Oh no, not again.”
That's only if you also have a metacausal antipole.
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@pie_flavor said in Q#:
Flowerpots falling from the sky are much easier
Only if they contain petunias where those petunias are thinking “Oh no, not again.”
That's only if you also have a metacausal antipole.
what?
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They can run on classical computers but I guess the results aren't quantum-accurate or whatever.
Everything a quantum computer can do, a classical computer can do just as well. It just takes exponentially longer for a classical computer to simulate quantum operations.
With these kinds of toolkits, tested software will be ready for quantum hardware whenever it actually gets built.
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@pie_flavor said in Q#:
@pie_flavor said in Q#:
Flowerpots falling from the sky are much easier
Only if they contain petunias where those petunias are thinking “Oh no, not again.”
That's only if you also have a metacausal antipole.
what?
He meant to say menopausal asshole.
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That said, I've done an extensive personal study of physics, including quantum mechanics (at a conceptual level, not a mathematical level), as well as having a Computer Science degree and 10 years programming experience, and I've read a number of articles, introductions, and samples on quantum computing, and I still don't understand what quantum computing is.
All you need to know is that it probably runs The Cloud.
Filed under:
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That said, I've done an extensive personal study of physics, including quantum mechanics (at a conceptual level, not a mathematical level), as well as having a Computer Science degree and 10 years programming experience, and I've read a number of articles, introductions, and samples on quantum computing, and I still don't understand what quantum computing is.
All you need to know is that it probably runs The Cloud.
Filed under:
The cloud I could see the benefit of even if the marketing fud around it made it very difficult. Has anyone actually done anything practical with quantum computing yet? Or are we still in the experimental phase and about to be fly swatted by reality?
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@DogsB I think they've done some practical things with quantum annealing computers (not quite actual quantum computers, but don't ask me what the difference is), and most of them involve calculating things that are naturally quantum environments like an atom's electron cloud or the chemical bonds within a molecule. I don't think you'll see things like a Chromium Browser Quantum Edition because the purpose of quantum computing is almost entirely different than the purpose of classical computing.
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The cloud I could see the benefit of even if the marketing fud around it made it very difficult. Has anyone actually done anything practical with quantum computing yet? Or are we still in the experimental phase and about to be fly swatted by reality?
Not much, considering how hard it is to get a single qbit working.
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@PJH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography
In contrast to the threat quantum computing poses to current public-key algorithms, most current symmetric cryptographic algorithms and hash functions are considered to be relatively secure against attacks by quantum computers.[2][7] While the quantum Grover's algorithm does speed up attacks against symmetric ciphers, doubling the key size can effectively block these attacks.[8] Thus post-quantum symmetric cryptography does not need to differ significantly from current symmetric cryptography. See section on symmetric-key approach below.
High-performance computing with quantum processing units (Journal Article) | OSTI.GOV
