The Q# Programming Language

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/quantum-qr-intro?view=qsharp-preview

by rbanffy • 9 years ago

120 60 9 years ago

docs.microsoft.com

dvfjsdhgfv• 9 years ago

Are there any open source developments in quantum computing? MS seems to be doing a lot in this area but I'd hate to be limited to what they offer.

jackfoxy• 9 years ago

Microsoft's Language Integrated Quantum Operations Simulator is available on Github http://stationq.github.io/Liquid/

reikonomusha• 9 years ago

That is not open source. Note that the meat of it is in the form of compiled binaries in the /bin directory: https://github.com/StationQ/Liquid/tree/master/bin

In this case, GitHub isn’t being used so much as an open source collaboration tool, but rather a file host.

erikj• 9 years ago

Rigetti Computing has a Github repository with a reference implementation for their quantum virtual machine and other stuff: https://github.com/rigetticomputing

SunChrono• 9 years ago

There's Quipper - a language for describing quantum algorithms:

http://www.mathstat.dal.ca/~selinger/quipper/

sytelus• 9 years ago

There is also Quantum computer playground by Google: http://www.quantumplayground.net/

Here's list of various QC simulators: https://www.quantiki.org/wiki/list-qc-simulators

geocar5• 9 years ago

Jeez. First curl and now q?

Well, if Microsoft isn't going to give a fuck about implied trademarks, and just aim to be as confusing as possible, I think we can introduce the "windows programming language"...

doktrin3• 9 years ago

I'm an ignorant pleb, is this the Q you're thinking of?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(programming_language_from_K...

If so, honestly seems kind of esoteric and I'm not really offended by Microsoft using that letter.

smitherfield2• 9 years ago

seems kind of esoteric

Which is a bit unfortunate, because (APL-like) array languages, of which Q appears to be one of the more approachable/popular, have a lot of very interesting ideas that I think mainstream languages could benefit from. Their unpopularity is self-inflicted due to the wacky syntax, of course.

geocar5• 9 years ago

honestly seems kind of esoteric

Q# is more esoteric than Q is.

Has far fewer users, and in every way less of a claim to the name.

... just like "curl".

I'm not really offended by Microsoft using that letter

Okay, but I am. Now what?

StevePerkins• 9 years ago

https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9

pc862• 9 years ago

It's a letter. Come on.

_uhtu3• 9 years ago

Anyone else notice how the <title> of this page is "Intent and product brand in a unique string of 43-59 chars including spaces | Microsoft Docs"?

Which is obviously a placeholder, so I wonder how much Microsoft really cared about this release.

smitherfield2• 9 years ago

Or maybe it's a draft document? It's obviously a side project in any case.

WalterGR• 9 years ago

I wonder how much Microsoft really cared about this release.

Or someone could have made a mistake.

verst2• 9 years ago

Thanks for pointing out this mistake. I'll let the right person know to get this updated.

Some context: Every article on docs.microsoft.com is written in markdown. However there is some additional metadata front matter that is easy to overlook (and new authors may not always be familiar with it). I certainly have done that before myself.

Disclaimer: I'm a Developer Advocate for Azure. My parent group also owns the docs.microsoft.com infrastructure.

_uhtu3• 9 years ago

Of course, that's why I wonder if they really cared or if it was just a mistake.

glibgil2• 9 years ago

coltonv 1 hour ago

Stolen comment valor

__pandaman64__ 11 hours ago
The title of this page seems to be the default string ("Intent and product brand in a unique string of 43-59 chars including spaces").

IncRnd2• 9 years ago

Once one person notices the title of a page, for the rest of time nobody else is able to notice the same?

Yahivin• 9 years ago

Can we get a mod to update the title?

;)

msoucy• 9 years ago

Another one of their pages (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/quantum-techniques-...) has this, as well as git merge issues and an improperly generated link...

verst2• 9 years ago

Thanks! I'll let the authors know!

dend4• 9 years ago

PM on docs.microsoft.com team - already working on fixing this, thanks for the feedback!

dend4• 9 years ago

The titles are now fixed!

workthrowaway27• 9 years ago

Maybe some HN reader who is more familiar with quantum computing can help me answer this question: how broadly applicable is quantum computing? I know that it breaks some forms of cryptography and reduces the security of others, but aside from that I haven't heard of many practical uses for it. Is it destined to remain a niche area of computing or is it more broadly applicable than I've been led to believe?

sixdimensional2• 9 years ago

I think "broadly applicable" is not yet something we can state definitively, because the technology itself is not broadly available. I think it would be like trying to guess if the first computer made by Alan Turing would be broadly applicable at the time it was invented - he surely thought so, yet its invention was only realized in response to code breaking during WWII.

However, the applications are numerous far beyond cryptography. Quantum computing is an entirely different fundamental type of computing that accepts uncertainty at its core, which is actually quite a powerful concept in and of itself. I mean, imagine Boolean logic.. true, false... and now you have "maybe" (due to the nature of qubits)... I think that for stochastic/random processes and modeling the real world, the uncertainty can be a very powerful tool. Of course, that's just one small part of quantum computing.

Here's some more info from DWave's website about applications: https://www.dwavesys.com/tutorials/background-reading-series...

I am curious if there is a link between Google Deepmind and DWave, but not sure there is one.

sixdimensional2• 9 years ago

Not sure of the down vote here. I think that existing concepts such as ternary logic[1] prove the applicability of alternative (alternative to binary I mean), multi-state computing models already.

So, quantum processing is a different computing model and programming model, which up until recently has been too complicated to be in reach of the public, much like the Turing machine once was. I suspect with advances in cloud computing and programming tools like this Q# language, it will bring these advanced capabilities to a wider mass and then the techology's full potential can be more fully realized.

I understand the parent's question, but perhaps an actual quantum computing scientist could answer here instead of me.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-valued_logic

codekilla• 9 years ago

Quantum computing will not replace your word processor, and we don't need it for things like building websites, apps, or really most software...of course, there are potential applications in AI, but that aside it's not generally applicable in that sense. However, when it comes to scientific computing, or the development of new technologies, materials, medicines, etc...it's potential applications within those domains are likely transformative. Without going into too much detail, everything you see around you(chemicals, compounds, etc) can be broken down within the theory of QED(quantum electrodynamics) ultimately, and quantum computers can do calculations for QED/quantum chemistry much better than classical computers...so the question becomes...what can you do now that you can simulate reality much more accurately? These are likely to be the most important applications for the next 5-10-15 years.

JepZ2• 9 years ago

Germans will probably call it Quiz :D

(Haltone increases (#) bring the suffix 'is' (like F# == Fis) and 'Q-is' sounds pretty much like 'Quiz')

maxxxxx2• 9 years ago

I haven't talked to German programmers lately. Is C# pronounced "Cis"?

arianvanp• 9 years ago

In dutch C# is pronounced as Cis, yes. So I think in German as well. Though a programmer will still stay C-sharp.

krautsourced• 9 years ago

I have not heard a single person here (Berlin) pronounce any of the # languages "is"-anything. Everyone I know just calls it C-Sharp.

JepZ2• 9 years ago

Well, nowadays professional programmers call it C-Sharp, but some years ago there were a lot of people calling it Cis.

EDIT: While C-Sharp is the correct pronunciation there were even books calling is Cis: https://books.google.de/books?id=srryCQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=pro...

posedge• 9 years ago

The musical note C# is pronounced Cis, the programming language is pronounced C-sharp. Same for F#

kevin_thibedeau• 9 years ago

Still waiting for C99 to happen. If they dedicated just a fraction of the effort put into C#, VB.Net, and PowerShell we could have had a proper, modern C frontend written from scratch.

polskibus• 9 years ago

I wonder if resharper supports q#?

The Q# Programming Language

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