Q Sharp

From HandWiki
Short description: Programming language for quantum algorithms
The correct title of this article is Q# (programming language). The substitution of the # is due to technical restrictions.
Q#
ParadigmQuantum, functional, imperative
Designed byMicrosoft Research (quantum architectures and computation group; QuArC)
DeveloperMicrosoft
First appearedDecember 11, 2017 (2017-12-11)[1]
Typing disciplineStatic, strong
PlatformCommon Language Infrastructure
LicenseMIT License[2]
Filename extensions.qs
Websitelearn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/
Influenced by
C#, F#, Python

Q# (pronounced Q sharp) is a domain-specific programming language used for expressing quantum algorithms.[3] It was initially released to the public by Microsoft as part of the Quantum Development Kit.[4]

Q# works in conjunction with classical languages such as C#, Python and F#, and is designed to allow the use of traditional programming concepts in quantum computing, including functions with variables and branches as well as a syntax-highlighted development environment with a quantum debugger.[1][5][6]

History

Historically, Microsoft Research had two teams interested in quantum computing: the QuArC team based in Redmond, Washington,[7] directed by Krysta Svore, that explored the construction of quantum circuitry, and Station Q initially located in Santa Barbara and directed by Michael Freedman, that explored topological quantum computing.[8][9]

During a Microsoft Ignite Keynote on September 26, 2017, Microsoft announced that they were going to release a new programming language geared specifically towards quantum computers.[10] On December 11, 2017, Microsoft released Q# as a part of the Quantum Development Kit.[4]

At Build 2019, Microsoft announced that it would be open-sourcing the Quantum Development Kit, including its Q# compilers and simulators.[11]

To support Q#, Microsoft developed Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) in 2023 as a common interface between programming languages and target quantum processors. The company also announced a compiler extension that generates QIR from Q#.[12]

Bettina Heim used to lead the Q# language development effort.[13][14]

Usage

Q# is available as a separately downloaded extension for Visual Studio,[15] but it can also be run as an independent tool from the command line or Visual Studio Code. Q# was introduced on Windows and is available on MacOS and Linux.[16]

The Quantum Development Kit includes a quantum simulator capable of running Q# and simulated 30 logical qubits.[17][18]

In order to invoke the quantum simulator, another .NET programming language, usually C#, is used, which provides the (classical) input data for the simulator and reads the (classical) output data from the simulator.[19]

Features

A primary feature of Q# is the ability to create and use qubits for algorithms. As a consequence, some of the most prominent features of Q# are the ability to entangle and introduce superpositioning to qubits via controlled NOT gates and Hadamard gates, respectively, as well as Toffoli Gates, Pauli X, Y, Z Gate, and many more which are used for a variety of operations (See quantum logic gates).[citation needed]

The hardware stack that will eventually come together with Q# is expected to implement Qubits as topological qubits. The quantum simulator that is shipped with the Quantum Development Kit today is capable of processing up to 32 qubits on a user machine and up to 40 qubits on Azure.[20]

Documentation and resources

Currently, the resources available for Q# are scarce, but the official documentation is published: Microsoft Developer Network: Q#. Microsoft Quantum Github repository is also a large collection of sample programs implementing a variety of Quantum algorithms and their tests.

Microsoft has also hosted a Quantum Coding contest on Codeforces, called Microsoft Q# Coding Contest - Codeforces, and also provided related material to help answer the questions in the blog posts, plus the detailed solutions in the tutorials.

Microsoft hosts a set of learning exercises to help learn Q# on GitHub: microsoft/QuantumKatas with links to resources, and answers to the problems.

Syntax

Q# is syntactically related to both C# and F# yet also has some significant differences.

Similarities with C#

  • Uses namespace for code isolation
  • All statements end with a ;
  • Curly braces are used for statements of scope
  • Single line comments are done using //
  • Variable data types such as Int Double String and Bool are similar, although capitalised (and Int is 64-bit)[21]
  • Qubits are allocated and disposed inside a using block.
  • Lambda functions are defined using the => operator.
  • Results are returned using the return keyword.

Similarities with F#

  • Variables are declared using either let or mutable[3]
  • First-order functions
  • Modules, which are imported using the open keyword
  • The datatype is declared after the variable name
  • The range operator ..
  • for … in loops
  • Every operation/function has a return value, rather than void. Instead of void, an empty Tuple () is returned.
  • Definition of record datatypes (using the newtype keyword, instead of type).

Differences

  • Functions are declared using the function keyword
  • Operations on the quantum computer are declared using the operation keyword
  • Lack of multiline comments
  • Asserts instead of throwing exceptions
  • Documentation is written in Markdown instead of XML-based documentation tags

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Microsoft's Q# quantum programming language out now in preview" (in en-US). 12 Dec 2017. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/12/microsofts-q-quantum-programming-language-out-now-in-preview/. 
  2. ↑ "Introduction to Q#". University of Washington. https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse490q/20au/hws/qsharp-intro.pdf. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 QuantumWriter. "The Q# Programming Language" (in en-us). https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/quantum-qr-intro?view=qsharp-preview. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Announcing the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit" (in en-US). https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2017/12/11/announcing-microsoft-quantum-development-kit/. 
  5. ↑ "Microsoft makes play for next wave of computing with quantum computing toolkit" (in en-US). 25 Sep 2017. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/microsoft-quantum-toolkit/. 
  6. ↑ "Quantum Computers Barely Exist—Here's Why We're Writing Languages for Them Anyway" (in en-US). 22 Dec 2017. https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/12/22/3662/quantum-computers-barely-exist-heres-why-were-writing-languages-for-them-anyway/. 
  7. ↑ "Solving the quantum many-body problem with artificial neural networks". 15 February 2017. https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2017/02/15/solving-the-quantum-many-body-problem-with-artificial-neural-networks/. 
  8. ↑ Scott Aaronson's blog, 2013, 'Microsoft: From QDOS to QMA in less than 35 years', https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=1471
  9. ↑ "What are the Q# programming language & QDK? - Azure Quantum" (in en-us). 12 January 2024. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/overview-what-is-qsharp-and-qdk. 
  10. ↑ "Microsoft announces quantum computing programming language" (in en-US). https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2017/09/26/microsoft-announces-quantum-computing-programming-language/. 
  11. ↑ "Microsoft is open-sourcing its Quantum Development Kit". https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/06/microsoft-open-sourcing-quantum-development-kit/. 
  12. ↑ Krill, Paul (29 Sep 2020). "Microsoft taps LLVM for quantum computing" (in en-US). https://www.infoworld.com/article/2260508/microsoft-taps-llvm-for-quantum-computing.html. 
  13. ↑ "The Women of QuArC". 30 March 2019. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/qsharp/the-women-of-quarc/. 
  14. ↑ "Intro to Q# - Intro to Quantum Software Development". https://stem.mitre.org/quantum/software-tools/intro-qsharp.html. 
  15. ↑ QuantumWriter. "Setting up the Q# development environment" (in en-us). https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/quantum-installconfig?view=qsharp-preview. 
  16. ↑ Coppock, Mark (26 Feb 2018). "Microsoft's quantum computing language is now available for MacOS" (in en). https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-quantum-computing-q-available-macos-linux/. 
  17. ↑ Akdogan, Erman (23 October 2022). "Quantum computing is coming for finance & crypto" (in en). https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/quantum-computing-is-coming-for-finance-crypto-b56c0255cb09. 
  18. ↑ Melanson, Mike (16 Dec 2017). "This Week in Programming: Get Quantum with Q Sharp" (in en). https://thenewstack.io/week-programming-get-quantum-q-sharp/. 
  19. ↑ "This Week in Programming: Get Quantum with Q Sharp". 16 December 2017. https://thenewstack.io/week-programming-get-quantum-q-sharp/. 
  20. ↑ "Microsoft previews quantum computing development kit". https://www2.cio.com.au/article/631142/microsoft-previews-quantum-computing-development-kit/. 
  21. ↑ "Types in Q# - Microsoft Quantum". 27 July 2022. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/user-guide/language/types. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Q_Sharp&oldid=4348193"