Foundations of quantum programming

Abstract

Progress in the techniques of quantum devices has made people widely believe that large-scale and functional quantum computers will be eventually built. By then, super-powered quantum computer will solve many problems affecting economic and social life that cannot be addressed by classical computing. However, our experiences with classical computing suggest that once quantum computers become available in the future, quantum software will play a key role in exploiting their power, and quantum software market will even be much larger than quantum hardware market. Unfortunately, today's software development techniques are not suited to quantum computers due to the essential differences between the nature of the classical world and that of the quantum world. To lay a solid foundation for tomorrow's quantum software industry, it is critically essential to pursue systematic research into quantum programming methodology and techniques. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.