Quantum Computing for Computer Scientists

Very useful for computer engineers.

This text served as my first formal introduction to the exciting field of quantum computation. I must say, that I couldn't have asked for a better text to guide me through this wondrous arena of science. The concepts presented within the book were done so in an incredibly clear and concise fashion. The notorious difficulties associated with quantum mechanics were washed away by the very intuitive explanations presented in the book. Whether or not you are a computer scientist, if you have an interest in learning the rudiments of quantum computing this is a fantastic introductory book that presents these ideas in a very friendly way. No previous knowledge of quantum mechanics is necessary either really, as many of the core concepts are explained throughout. Of course, having a basic understanding going in is helpful. Book Scope: The book begins with a look at complex vector spaces and some basics on linear algebra. Most of the mathematics stays within this vicinity with some basic statistics sprinkled throughout later, and only one or two instances of calculus. This makes the text a fantastic introduction to someone who has not yet encountered some of the higher levels of mathematics. They also introduce tensor products early on so that when the section of composite quantum systems arises, the reader is able to go back and intuitively understand how tensor products can be comprehended in this physical sense. What I found especially helpful on the mathematical side of things is that the steps to arrive at certain problems were not omitted, and in fact are provided in great detail. This is especially beneficial to those not familiar or rusty with mathematical concepts presented in the book. From there, the book covers aspects of computer science. For the computer scientists who picked up this book, a lot of this will serve as review. However there are elements presented in the text that do not necessarily come up in the general computer science curriculum. These include actual physical components of computing, and ride more along the pretenses of information theory. After covering the preliminary computational material, the book progresses into developing some quantum mechanical notions. This includes rudimentary experiments such as the double slit experiment, Stern-Gerlach, etc. They are presented in a very friendly manner and also are accompanied by helpful illustrations and written out mathematical explanations. Afterward, the actual concepts of quantum computing are presented. They begin with the notion of a qubit, Bloch sphere, entanglement, etc. From this point on, the book does not really require to be read linearly. Once the core concepts are established, the next few chapters cover topics such as Quantum Circuits, Quantum Algorithms, Information Theory, Theoretical Computer Science, Quantum Cryptography, Quantum Programming etc. So whatever aspect of quantum computing you happen to be especially interested in, you can dive right in and begin learning. Of course you could also continue in a linear fashion and read it all (as I did) for a good overview of the branching of quantum computation. Throughout the text, there are a series of exercises for the reader. Most of these are answered in the back of the book (a huge aid to those self-learning). There are also programming drills sprinkled throughout the text. Since the premise of the book is for interested computer scientists, they allow you to establish and reinforce your comprehension through these programming exercises. What is really beneficial about this is that these exercises are cumulative. So by the end of the book if you continue to work alongside of the text, you will have created a quantum computational emulator. I did this as well during my reading, and it was incredibly beneficial for gaining an intuitive understanding of the subject matter. I've always thought that you don't really understand something, until you can tell it to a computer. Why? Because it involves covering large sets of cases and explaining it in excruciating detail. All in all, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in quantum computing. Whether you are a beginner or novice, this book serves as an outstanding primer to comprehending a beautiful subject.

Mi è piaciuto l'aspetto tecnico: molto approfondito e con esempi chiari e semplici. Molto dettagliata la trattazione degli spazi di Hilbert. Consiglio il libro a chi vuole capire la nuova frontiera dei computer quantistici.

I appreaciate this book a lot and even the preliminary math introduction chapters are tailored very much to the topic and fun. I like to see nice graphs and full matrices displayed for every example. Even there is a lot of math, I think the writer did a great job to write a book for people with focus on programming.

Good introduction to quantum computing

In depth very well explained for newbies like me.