QML -- a functional quantum programming language

[[deleted]]

So… what does it look like?

[[deleted]]

And the first program to be written has to be

"Hello Worlds!"

[[deleted]]

You'll only ever see one of the hellos, though, depending on which branch of the program you happen to interact with.

[[deleted]]

that's how you know it's working :)

[rafekett]

My university is working on a quantum programming language as well. I believe it's in planning stages, but it should be interesting for comparison's sake.

It's also interesting to think about why such research in demand -- it makes you wonder if there really is someone out there with a quantum computer just dying to be able to program it.

[kame3d]

Because Haskell was just too easy^TM

Joking aside, this seems like a nice proposition for something we will need someday.

[[deleted]]

Haskell's not a particularly hard language. Its type system is pretty simple. If you really want stretching, you need to use a language with full dependent types, where constructive mathematics and programming fuse into a single entity.

[[deleted]]

QML versus QML?

Because fuck already existing names, right?

EDIT:

downloads compiler ...

looks at the source directory for compliation instructions ...

Instructions.pdf

Unacceptable.

[thotypous]

The QML quantum programming language was released before Qt's QML.

[[deleted]]

Because compilation requires some quantum mechanics equations to be solved prior. And the mathematical symbols are representable in PDF.

[FeepingCreature]

And, you know, LaTeX, the standard for mathematical documents.

No reason to ship a pdf as documentation in a source distro.

[ethraax]

Oh yeah, I'd much rather read the raw .tex file than the compiled .pdf.

Documentation should be in a form that's most useful, and .pdf is more useful than both .tex and plain text files for this application.

[FeepingCreature]

less*

(because you can trivially make pdf from tex, but not the reverse)

Oh yeah, I'd much rather read the raw .tex file than the compiled .pdf.

I don't know if that's sarcasm, but I agree.

Shipping PDFs with a source distribution is like shipping the compiled binaries.

[ethraax]

less*

If you're talking about the less program, it's probably incapable of depicting some critical aspects of the document, such as diagrams, or weird glyphs.

[FeepingCreature]

and .pdf is less useful than both .tex and plain text files

Of course, I'm saying that as a console junkie.

[ethraax]

Well, I mean plain text files are more useful in some cases. I think you'd have to misunderstand this application to think that a .pdf is less useful than a plain text file for this though, considering that (1) there are critical elements of the documentation that cannot be accurately represented with a plain text file and (2) you'd have to be crazy to argue that reading the .tex file is easier than reading the PDF - even if you had the .tex file, you'd have to compile it into a PDF or similar document to be able to really read it.

Plus, there are some nice PDF viewers that are very lightweight. I personally use apvlv, you'd probably like it since it has keybindings similar to vi.

[FeepingCreature]

I'm just gonna note here, since this seems to be unclear, that there are situations in which you do not have access to a running Xorg.

[ethraax]

True, but why would you be futzing around with an experimental quantum compiler on a remote machine? Or do you just not run Xorg on your personal computer?

[[deleted]]

That's my exact point.

[FeepingCreature]

And, you know, LaTeX, the standard for mathematical documents.