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Comment by tombert | Hacker News Reader

Damnit, now I have to learn Q#...I've been putting it off for more than a year but I guess I need to stay competitive.

Well, actually, maybe this would be the right audience to ask; if I wanted to do some stuff with quantum, would you recommend Q# or is there a cooler language to use now?

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QisKit, in Python, is also a popular framework. Here is a tutorial:

An Introduction to Quantum Computing http://www.primaryobjects.com/2019/01/07/an-introduction-to-...

I do know the MS guy largely responsible for Q#. He's an honest fellow and adamant that there is nothing like it. I've never worked with it. If you do get serious with it I'm sure the team would be very interested in hearing from you.

AFAIK the only "quantum computer" it currently interfaces with is LIQ𝑈𝑖⏐〉 (a simulator). http://stationq.github.io/Liquid/

Well, since I don't really have access to a real quantum computer yet, I'm ok with it just being on a simulator; I'm assuming that if/when quantum computers become cheap enough for consumer products, the MS team will probably work to make Q# support it.

That stylization is very exhausting (yes, I know what a "ket" is)

TIL that the right angle bracket is called a 'ket', and the left part is called a 'bra'. The 14-year-old inside of me is now looking to use the word 'bra' with impunity more often.

Heh I thought you were making a joke but Q# is really a thing ?!

Damn I'm old.

Yeah, MS announced awhile ago. [0].

I've had it in my todo's for almost two years now...still haven't played with it yet.

[0] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/language/?view=qsha...

The joke is that Microsoft has a beautiful software stack and no hardware.

Honestly, how many money-making initiatives do you expect to require programming a quantum-computer in the next 5 years? I can't imagine many people outside the upper tiers of a University lab or some highly-funded security arm at Google using this tech in the near-future? (Asking an honest question, not accusing)

So shor's algorithm for factoring primes get's a lot of press in the software community because it unravels chunks of encryption, but grover's algorithm for inverting functions is also pretty neat and it would have lots of constructive applications in engineering contexts where you're trying to find configurations that satisfy non-linear constraints.

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