Your starting guide to Quantum Computing!

I claim no expertise in the field but I am well ahead of the beginner-phase. I get a lot of messages from beginners asking how to begin with Quantum Computing (QC). So, I thought of sharing the resources that helped me in my initial days through this blog. I will also try to share few links relevant for those who are planning to make a career in QC.

There are two words in the name- ‘Quantum’ and ‘Computing’, which makes it evident that you’ll get to see Physics (quantum physics concepts), Mathematics (basic Linear Algebra) and Computer Science (CS) in your journey. The best part is- you don’t need to be an expert at these three to start learning QC. Little bit familiarity with the concepts would help though. To be honest, I am not good with the Physics and Mathematics, I keep learning what comes my way. However, I am very confident with my CS skills and it has helped my Quantum research as well.

I don’t know who is reading this post, you may be a High-school student, an undergrad or may be a grad-student with the same question in mind- “Where should I start?”. My approach is to code your way through, it helps embed the concepts in your mind and you understand better. I use Python programming language because it has several libraries equipped to facilitate QC coding. To name a few- Qiskit by IBM Quantum, Cirq by Google, Pennylane by Xanadu and QDK by Microsoft. You can get started in any as per your comfort level. Concepts remain the same, coding functionality and syntax varies with your selection. I am a Qiskitter, so following resources will be focused more towards that. I will share few resources for other variants as well towards the end of this article.

I feel the best place to start learning QC concepts along with hands-on is the Qiskit textbook and the Qiskit Global Summer School content. These two are comprehensive and easy to understand. I believe after finishing off these two, you would feel intrigued to learn more. In case you wish to dive in some concepts, here are few books as resources. There’s a book by Neilsen and Chuang, which is considered the best book for introduction to this field and will make your concepts rock solid. Though few topics have evolved after the book was published, but it has basically everything you’ll need to know. It is a ‘must have’ in your library if you are here to stay. Books by Yanofsky and Mermin are also good resources to read for best understanding.

Few more resources I have collected are as follows:

1. Quantum Computing for the very curious
2. Quantum Computing for the determined
3. CS191x by Umesh Vazirani
4. Qiskit YouTube | Coding with Qiskit (S1) | Coding with Qiskit (S2)
5. The Theoretical Minimum

Also, there have been few hackathons and challenges by IBM that were based on applying QC concepts and algorithms on real life problems. They keep happening from time to time. If you want to join any forthcoming event, keep checking here. The Github repositories having the content of few hackathons are as follows:

1. IBM Quantum Challenge (Spring 2020)
2. Qiskit India Challenge
3. IBM Quantum Challenge (Fall 2020)
4. ICPC Quantum Challenge (2021)

Good quality blogs:

1. Qiskit
2. Musty Thoughts

If you are looking for mentorship programs you might wanna look-up QOSF.

Workshops/FDPs:

1. SMBQ 2020: Day 1 | Day 2(i) | Day 2(ii)
2. Quantum Week of Fun by CQC.

Motivation boosters: If you feel you are not cut-out for QC, read Amira’s journey on how she came into QC from Finance. If you are feeling stuck with coding issues or conceptual questions, join the amazing Qiskit community on Slack. You will get help from fellow qiskitters from around the world as well as IBM Quantum experts. IBM Quantum provides every QC enthusiast a chance to be a part of an amazing team by being a Qiskit Advocate once a year (Read an inspiring story here). You just need to be thorough with concepts to qualify a test and contribute to the Qiskit Community.

Apart from Qiskit, there exists:

1. Pennylane by Xanadu
2. Cirq by Google
3. Q# and QDK by Microsoft | Link 1 | Link 2

… and this is not it. There is a plethora of research papers and tutorial blogs for the hungry readers to delve through. Feel free to explore on your own and let the researcher in you grow. If this brief article gave you a starting point, my aim here is fulfilled. I wish you all the very best in your quantum journey. In case you come across any more relevant content and wish to add here, feel free to drop links in comments.

Bon Voyage!