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7 - Programming Languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Noson S. Yanofsky  and
Mirco A. Mannucci
Noson S. Yanofsky
Affiliation:
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Mirco A. Mannucci
Affiliation:
HoloMathics, LLC, Virginia
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Summary

The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver … universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs. … They compliantly obey their laws and vividly exhibit their obedient behavior. No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage or a field of battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops.

J. Weizmann, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation

In this chapter we are going to describe quantum programming, i.e., the art and science of programming a quantum computer. In Section 7.1, we briefly sketch what it means to program a quantum computing device. Section 7.2 covers a simple version of quantum assembler, based on the so-called QRAM architecture. Section 7.3 describes possible steps leading to higher-level programming languages and constructs. We conclude this chapter with Section 7.4, a short discussion on quantum emulators.

PROGRAMMING IN A QUANTUM WORLD

As you are about to read this chapter, you have undoubtedly been exposed to computer programming in a variety of flavors, and are perhaps already an accomplished programmer of real-life applications. Programming a classical machine carries an immediate, unambiguous sense. However, we are going to leave the familiar world of binary chips, and learn how to program some as yet unspecified quantum hardware.

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Quantum Computing for Computer Scientists , pp. 220 - 238
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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