back to article Google: We don't have a quantum computer yet, but we have a compiler

Google and rival Rigetti Computing have co-published what you could think of as an open source quantum compiler. OpenFermion, available here, is more formally described by the Chocolate Factory as a “platform for translating problems in chemistry and materials science into quantum circuits that can be executed on existing …

  1. Empire of the Pussycat

    "So no, don't ask for “hello world”."

    well, engaging the pedantothon, it's python...

    print("Hello, World!")

  2. Rebel Science

    LOL. Quantum computers are right up there with the phlogiston and dark matter.

    1. Opposite states are superposed but only if you're not looking.

    2. We can't see them but we know they are there.

    3. Trust us. We know what we're talking about.

    Right, sure. The crackpottery in Big Science is friggin' hilarious.

    ahahahaha...AHAHAHAHA...ahahahaha...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Is this sarcasm or a troll?

      The main thing here is the qbits will give you probability spreads and calculations of these extremely quickly, to a confidence rating.

      No magic needed. Just an acceptance that some things are different to others. A cat is not a dog. Up is not down. Browning motion is not gravity etc.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Facepalm

        Re: Is this sarcasm or a troll?

        This guy always posts uninformed crap like this. It would be great if El Reg added a "block user" feature, a personalized black-list.

        I dunno why people post nonsense like this. If they believe it, they are really really stupid people, right in that special 'don't know what they don't know' category.

        On the other hand, if they know they are trolling, then they are quite pathetic, wasting their precious time on this planet for the minor kick they get out of feeling they have the power to slightly annoy a stranger somewhere via a knowingly stupid post online. To me trolling is like trainspotting: an activity for men on the lowest rung of the status ladder.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Priceless

          "To me trolling is like trainspotting: an activity for men on the lowest rung of the status ladder."

          You've just trolled trainspotters. What's it like down there, on the the lowest rung of the status ladder?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Boffin

            Re: Priceless

            > You've just trolled trainspotters.

            Actually no - Trainspotting is used as an example by psychologists of an artificial male hierarchy which exists specifically for 'low status' males to group and therein gain some relative status improvements. I wasn't trolling trainspotters per se.

            1. werdsmith Silver badge

              Re: Priceless

              Actually no - Trainspotting is used as an example by psychologists of an artificial male hierarchy which exists specifically for 'low status' males to group and therein gain some relative status improvements. I wasn't trolling trainspotters per se.

              Trainspotters don't do any harm, or annoy anyone in their activity so that puts them on rungs above quite a lot of types.

              I mean real spotters, not the Canon DSLR brigade that swarm all over tracks whenever the Flying Scotsman is passing.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Trainspotting...

                I once jumped on a train, hoping it was the right one I commented "Oh, I am looking to get to X, hope all goes well", noticing an obvious, but well dressed, train spotter get on too...

                They were followed on by a nice looking young blond, who then said "Phew, made it just in time to get to Z", while the door closed.

                Said train spotter corrected her, and helped plan the required 2 train switches to get back on track, the train was going to X, and sadly a wasted hour or so journey for her to eventually get to Z.

                So IMO, train spotters can be really helpful and a boost to the day!

        2. Arthur the cat Silver badge

          Re: Is this sarcasm or a troll?

          It would be great if El Reg added a "block user" feature, a personalized black-list.

          Sadly I have but one up vote to give you.

          How about it El Reg? There are several window lickers(*) round here I'd love to block.

          (*) Note that this is not a remark about any Microsoft product, current or no longer supported.

      2. Rebel Science

        Re: Is this sarcasm or a troll?

        "the qbits will give you probability spreads"

        It's just a super expensive and very unreliable analog computer. Instead of solid analog values (as in a slide rule), it's using probabilities. It's crap.

  3. Milton

    If it can work ... When?

    Notwithstanding some crayoned drivel by 'Rebel Science' (FYI "I personally cannot understand something" is NOT the same as "Science has got it wrong") I'm still wondering when quantum computing will exit the fusion energy scenario - always 10 years away - and actually achieve something of value better and faster than traditional silicon.

    Working on a molecular modelling system some years ago we discovered that a bunch of GPUs[1] orchestrated in parallel by a smaller number of fast CPU cores became surprisingly effective if you broke down the tasks the right way - the sweet spot for us was to realise that "good enough" simulations could be run effectively orders of magnitude faster than "perfectly correct" ones.

    Perhaps the tolerance of approximation makes this a particularly good candidate for quantum computing ... But it'll be interesting to see when qubits can produce results as good as what we were getting from a relatively cheap (<six digits £) pile of silicon, and at what price.

    [1] Uncontroversial now, of course, but startling to us back then. I personally learned a lot about the significance of correctly defining the "atomic task" for GPU code, that is, the smallest individual task you'd set, after which further tasks became interlocking, summarised, aggregated etc.

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    It's an EDA back end for a quantum chemistry simulator package.

    If you have a mainstream electronic chemistry package (IE the sort of thing you'd need to design molecules, or nano technology) it will (in principle) take you design and create a "wiring diagram" for a "quantum computer" (which seems to be more like a FPGA than an actual "processor" running a program)

    AFAIK currently these programs either run some kind of simulation them selves or generate a bespoke Fortran/C/C++ program to run on your nearest server cluster or cloud.

    Or you feed the result of this to a QC simulator and wait however long it takes to cough up an answer

    Upside you only need 1 PhD to use it.

    Downside.

    At present It's Q/Chem package--> OF-->QC simulator Vs Q/Chem package--> Fortran/C/C++ program.

    And it's written in Python, which may (or may not) be another language for Q/chemists to learn.

  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Boffin

    Hello world?

    Hello, many worlds interpretation, surely?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hello world?

      Occasionally the code will output nothing. This is a feature, not a bug. ;)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Joke

        Re: Hello world?

        Occasionally the code will output nothing. This is a feature, not a bug. ;)

        Another time it's the complete works of Shakespeare.

  6. Mystic Megabyte
    Boffin

    Sorry

    $ git clone https://github.com/rigetticomputing/forestopenfermion

    : Warning! There is a 50% chance that the code will be DOA. Proceed? (y/n)

  7. Alexander Hanff 1

    Hello World

    You could ask for "Hello, World" but first it would need to define what World is, in every context and then it would need to understand what Hello is across all lexical constructs throughout time and space - at which point it would be able to give every possible accurate interpretation of "Hello, World" that has ever been, is or will ever be.

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Hello World

      I think you need to start with a nice strong cup of tea...

  8. Adam 1

    weird

    > It's quantum, it's open source, it's on GitHub

    I just did a git clone and now the repository has collapsed.

  9. Pat Harkin

    "So no, don't ask for “hello world”."

    "Hello, all possible worlds!" shirley?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like