Ever since the invention of the computer, coders have been working in the medium of 1s and 0s, creating the modern world by directly or indirectly manipulating binary computing bits that can be in one of two possible states. Now, real quantum computers are looming on the horizon with promises of speeds anywhere from thousands to hundreds of millions of times faster than classical computers, and so that binary state of affairs may be about to change. Yet how will mere mortal coders manage to take advantage of all that potential speed, when programming for quantum computers has been described as “a task as baffling as quantum mechanics itself”?
According to Simon Devitt, a quantum computing researcher at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, the answer is: with lots and lots of help. Quantum coding may be among the most complex tasks ever undertaken, and so coders are starting to pool their resources and create the tools they need to progress the field as a whole.
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