1. Quantum Computer Programming
Matt Purkeypile

2. Quantum Mechanics Dictates how nature behaves on small scales.
Nature truly is random.
It is impossible to predict the with certainty how a system will evolve.
Many people have a problem believing this.
Einstein is one example: “God does not play dice”.
Can the way nature really behaves be exploited to perform computations?

3. Quantum Computation
Unit of information in a classical computer: bit (1 or 0).
Unit of information in a quantum computer: qubit (1, 0, or a superposition of 1 and 0).
Allows for massively parallel computations to be carried out for some problems.
One interpretation is that the computations are carried out in other universes. (Deutsch is one subscriber to this interpretation.)
This power comes with a few restrictions, which include:
The program must be reversible.
One possible solution is randomly selected.
The state of the program cannot be examined while it executes.

4. Quantum Algorithms Deutsch Shor Grover
Allows for f(0) xor f(1) to be computed in one computation. This is impossible on a classical computer.
Shor
Developed an algorithm for efficiently factoring numbers.
This means crypto systems such as RSA could be broke with a quantum computer.
Grover
Developed a method of fast database search.
Requires n(1/2) attempts on average instead of n/2.

5. Quantum Computer Programming
The most successful approach to programming quantum computers will likely be a library for an existing language.
Over 8,500 languages have been developed, but only select few are used in industry.
Many approaches utilize a functional approach, which is foreign to many developers.
Learning a language specifically for quantum computing has disadvantages.
Bettelli has developed a library for C++.
C++ has declined in popularity since C# has come along.

6. Work Completed Not researching implementations of quantum computers.
More of a physics question.
Work completed
Analysis of literature.
It is a limited field, so this includes all of the major texts on the subject.

7. Work Ahead
Research proposal: design of an API and implementation for a quantum computing library (?)
Library will most likely be for Python or .NET
Python is interpreted, so it is easier to interact with.
.NET has wider usage and allows for multiple languages to be used.
The API will be implemented as a simulated quantum computer, but the simulation could be swapped out as actual quantum computers are constructed.

8. Questions?