Quantum Computing for Programmers

This introduction to quantum computing from a classical programmer's perspective is meant for students and practitioners alike. Over 25 fundamental algorithms are explained with full mathematical derivations and classical code for simulation, using an open-source code base developed from the ground up in Python and C++. After presenting the basics of quantum computing, the author focuses on algorithms and the infrastructure to simulate them efficiently, beginning with quantum teleportation, superdense coding, and Deutsch-Jozsa. Coverage of advanced algorithms includes the quantum supremacy experiment, quantum Fourier transform, phase estimation, Shor's algorithm, Grover's algorithm with derivatives, quantum random walks, and the Solovay-Kitaev algorithm for gate approximation. Quantum simulation is explored with the variational quantum eigensolver, quantum approximate optimization, and the Max-Cut and Subset-Sum algorithms. The book also discusses issues around programmer productivity, quantum noise, error correction, and challenges for quantum programming languages, compilers, and tools, with a final section on compiler techniques for transpilation.