This chapter covers:
- we will introduce the important concept of a qubit and compare this with the more familiar concept of the (classical) bit
- we introduce 2 notations for qubits
- we discuss how quantum gates allow to perform operations on qubits
- we show a very simple gate, and use the Strange UI applicationto visualise the effect of this gate.
When creating typical applications using classic computers, most developers don’t think about the transistors and the operations at the lowest level that ultimately allow applications to execute on hardware. Classic hardware is commodity in a sense that most developers take it for granted and don’t think about it. The details about how it works are not relevant to allmost all applications that are being developed. High-level programming languages shield developers from the low-level (assembly) code, and standards in chip design make it even less relevant for developers to understand the physical working of the hardware in a computer.
This used to be different. In the early days of classical computing, there were no high-level programming languages, and developers were working closer on the "bare metal". Once the hardware for classic computers became more mainstream and standardized, focus moved to higher-level programming languages.