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First experiences of teaching quantum computing

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Abstract

Quantum computing is a reality that presents challenges to computer engineering students and practitioners. It has been claimed that it is possible to effectively teach quantum computing to undergraduate students without a physics background by means of computer programming. With this statement in mind, this study starts with a comparison and tests of different quantum programming environments: Qiskit from IBM, Cirq from Rigetti, PyQuil from Google, Q# from Microsoft and ProjectQ from ETH. A qualitative and quantitative analysis has been performed, focusing on cross-platform parameters such as qubits, circuit depth, number of gates and code design effort, and using three different adders as a testbench. Vedral and Cuccaro adders are quantum addition circuits based on linear depth and ripple carry, while the Draper adder is a QFT based on quantum carry lookahead. By taking this analysis into account, a methodology for teaching quantum computing is proposed which includes (1) using classical OOP to program a basic quantum simulator; (2) a quantum circuit test with a graphical interface; (3) the programming of real quantum computers with a programming language; and (4) a deep exploration of known quantum algorithms.

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Acknowledgements

This paper has been supported by the UCM–Banco Santander under Grant PR26/16-20B-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Global Services España, Santa Hortensia, 26-28, 28002, Madrid, Spain

    Ginés Carrascal

  2. Department of Computer Architecture and Automation, Faculty of Informatics, Complutense University of Madrid, 9, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Alberto A. del Barrio & Guillermo Botella

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  1. Ginés Carrascal
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  2. Alberto A. del Barrio
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  3. Guillermo Botella
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Correspondence to Guillermo Botella.

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Carrascal, G., del Barrio, A.A. & Botella, G. First experiences of teaching quantum computing. J Supercomput 77, 2770–2799 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-020-03376-x

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