A new guide on programming quantum algorithms leads programmers through every step, from theory to implementing the algorithms on IBM’s publicly accessible 5-qubit ibmqx4 quantum computer and others.

The guide covers the fundamentals, along with a summary of the main quantum algorithms and instructions on how to implement them on publicly available quantum computers

As quantum computers proliferate and become more widely available, would-be quantum programmers are left scratching their brains over how to get started in the field. A new beginner’s guide offers a complete introduction to quantum algorithms and their implementation on existing hardware.“Writing quantum algorithms is radically different from writing classical computing programs and requires some understanding of quantum principles and the mathematics behind them,” said Andrey Y. Lokhov, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the recently published guide in ACM Transactions on QuantAnother section looks at the various types of quantum algorithms. From there, the guide dives into the 20 selected algorithms, with a problem definition, description, and steps for implementing each one on the IBM or, in a few cases, other computers.

Extensive references at the end of the guide will help interested readers go deeper in their explorations of quantum algorithms.

The study was funded by the Information Science and Technology Institute at Los Alamos National Laboratory through the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

Reference: “Quantum Algorithm Implementations for Beginners” by Abhijith J., Adetokunbo Adedoyin, John Ambrosiano, Petr Anisimov, William Casper, Gopinath Chennupati, Carleton Coffrin, Hristo Djidjev, David Gunter, Satish Karra, Nathan Lemons, Shizeng Lin, Alexander Malyzhenkov, David Mascarenas, Susan Mniszewski, Balu Nadiga, Daniel O’malley, Diane Oyen, Scott Pakin, Lakshman Prasad, Randy Roberts, Phillip Romero, Nandakishore Santhi, Nikolai Sinitsyn, Pieter J. Swart, James G. Wendelberger, Boram Yoon, Richard Zamora, Wei Zhu, Stephan Eidenbenz, Andreas Bärtschi, Patrick J. Coles, Marc Vuffray and Andrey Y. Lokhov, 7 July 2022, ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing.
DOI: 10.1145/351734