Computer scientists at ETH Zurich have designed the first programming language that can be used to program quantum computers as simply, reliably and safely as classical computers. Silq is the first quantum programming language that is not designed primarily around the construction and functionality of the hardware, but on the mindset of the programmers when they want to solve a problem—without requiring them to understand every detail of the computer architecture and implementation. Silq is the very first high-level programming language for quantum computers. High-level programming languages are more expressive, meaning that they can describe even complex tasks and algorithms with less code. This makes them more comprehensible and easier to use for programmers. They can also be used with different computer architectures.
Utilizing the potential of quantum computation not only requires the latest technology, but also a quantum programming language to describe quantum algorithms. In principle, an algorithm is a "recipe" for solving a problem; a programming language describes the algorithm so that a computer can perform the necessary calculations. Today, quantum programming languages are tied closely to specific hardware; in other words, they describe precisely the behavior of the underlying circuits. For programmers, these "hardware description languages" are cumbersome and error-prone, since the individual programming instructions must be extremely detailed and thus explicitly describe the minutiae needed to implement quantum algorithms.
The greatest innovation and simplification that Silq brings to quantum programming languages concerns a source of errors that has plagued quantum programming until now. A computer calculates a task in several intermediate steps, which creates intermediate results or temporary values. In order to relieve the memory, classical computers automatically erase these values. Computer scientists refer to this as "garbage collection", since the superfluous temporary values are disposed of. In the case of quantum computers, this disposal is trickier due to quantum entanglement: the previously calculated values can interact with the current ones, interfering with the correct calculation. Accordingly, cleaning up such temporary values on quantum computers requires a more advanced technique of so-called uncomputation. Silq automatically identifies and erases values that are no longer needed. The computer scientists achieved this by applying their knowledge of classical programming languages. Their automatic uncomputation method uses only programming commands that are free of any special quantum operations.
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-intuitive-language-quantum.html
Utilizing the potential of quantum computation not only requires the latest technology, but also a quantum programming language to describe quantum algorithms. In principle, an algorithm is a "recipe" for solving a problem; a programming language describes the algorithm so that a computer can perform the necessary calculations. Today, quantum programming languages are tied closely to specific hardware; in other words, they describe precisely the behavior of the underlying circuits. For programmers, these "hardware description languages" are cumbersome and error-prone, since the individual programming instructions must be extremely detailed and thus explicitly describe the minutiae needed to implement quantum algorithms.
The greatest innovation and simplification that Silq brings to quantum programming languages concerns a source of errors that has plagued quantum programming until now. A computer calculates a task in several intermediate steps, which creates intermediate results or temporary values. In order to relieve the memory, classical computers automatically erase these values. Computer scientists refer to this as "garbage collection", since the superfluous temporary values are disposed of. In the case of quantum computers, this disposal is trickier due to quantum entanglement: the previously calculated values can interact with the current ones, interfering with the correct calculation. Accordingly, cleaning up such temporary values on quantum computers requires a more advanced technique of so-called uncomputation. Silq automatically identifies and erases values that are no longer needed. The computer scientists achieved this by applying their knowledge of classical programming languages. Their automatic uncomputation method uses only programming commands that are free of any special quantum operations.
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-intuitive-language-quantum.html
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