Researchers from the Institute of Architecture of Application Systems at the University of Stuttgart have identified a gap in the field of quantum software engineering. Titled: “Patterns for Quantum Software Development,” and published in Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Pervasive Patterns and Applications outlines how to build quantum software.
The authors note that while classical software engineering has established best practices for creating reusable software components, similar practices for quantum algorithms are not well-documented. The team proposes five patterns to improve the reusability of quantum algorithm implementations, extending the existing quantum computing pattern language. These patterns aim to ensure that quantum algorithm implementations can handle different problem sizes, be processed by different quantum computers, and be used by non-quantum experts.
Quantum Software Development Challenges
Quantum algorithms have the potential to outperform classical algorithms for certain problems. However, implementing these algorithms in a reusable manner and integrating them into applications poses new challenges. To ensure reusability and integrability, quantum algorithm implementations must handle different problem sizes, be processed by different quantum computers, and be usable and integrable by non-quantum experts.
In classical software engineering, there are a variety of best practices and design principles to achieve the reusability of classical software components. These are well-known and documented as patterns. However, quantum software engineering currently lacks best practices for creating reusable implementations of quantum algorithms.
“Quantum algorithms have the potential to outperform their classical counterparts by exploiting quantum mechanical phenomena such as entanglement.”
Fabian Buhler, Johanna Barzen, Martin Beisel, Daniel Georg, Frank Leymann, and Karoline Wild
Implementing a quantum algorithm is a complex task requiring expertise in quantum computing and software engineering. Implementations consist of code representing quantum circuits and code defining the classical logic of the quantum algorithm. These algorithm implementations can then be integrated into hybrid quantum-classical applications to solve specific problems.
Reusability in Quantum Algorithm Implementations
Reusability in the context of quantum algorithm implementations comprises multiple aspects. One aspect is the reusability of an implementation in different applications. The programming language used for the implementation has a large influence on its reusability. For example, quantum algorithms implemented in a Python-based quantum programming language can easily be integrated directly into applications also implemented in Python.
Another aspect is the reusability for different problem instances. Reusable implementations of quantum algorithms should be able to process graphs of different sizes, which may affect the number of qubits required. Moreover, reusable algorithm implementations should be executable on different hardware, i.e., quantum computers of different vendors.
The Role of Patterns in Software Engineering
To achieve a high degree of reusability, classical software engineering provides many well-documented and well-known best practices for structuring the code of classical applications, such as modularization to achieve separation of concerns.
Patterns are an established method to document best practices for solving recurring problems. They provide a structured way to capture design and architectural knowledge in a human-readable format. Patterns have been originally introduced in the domain of building architectures. Today they are widely used in different domains including software engineering.
Patterns within a pattern language are interconnected to facilitate the combination of related patterns and ease the understanding of similar problems and their solutions.
Quantum Computing Pattern Language
In the quantum computing domain, a pattern language has been introduced, which has since been extended several times. The pattern language contains patterns of different categories, e.g., patterns related to quantum operations or specific quantum algorithm classes.
“To achieve a high degree of reusability, classical software engineering provides many well-documented and well-known best practices for structuring the code of classical applications, such as modularization to achieve separation of concerns.”
Fabian Buhler, Johanna Barzen, Martin Beisel, Daniel Georg, Frank Leymann, and Karoline Wild
However, patterns documenting best practices to improve the reusability of quantum algorithm implementations are not yet part of the language. To close this gap, the quantum computing pattern language is being extended by five new patterns that cover different aspects of reusability of such implementations.
Conclusion
Quantum software engineering is a complex field that requires expertise in both quantum computing and software engineering. The reusability of quantum algorithm implementations and their integration into applications are of great importance.
While classical software engineering has well-documented best practices for creating reusable software components, similar practices for quantum software engineering are not yet well-established. The introduction of new patterns into the quantum computing pattern language aims to address this gap and improve the reusability of quantum algorithm implementations.
“Implementing a quantum algorithm is a complex task requiring expertise in the field of quantum computing and software engineering.”
Fabian Buhler, Johanna Barzen, Martin Beisel, Daniel Georg, Frank Leymann, and Karoline Wild
Summary
Quantum algorithms, which have the potential to outperform classical algorithms, pose new challenges in terms of reusability and integration into applications. This paper presents five patterns to improve the reusability of quantum algorithm implementations, aiming to fill the gap in best practices for quantum software engineering.
“An established method to document best practices for solving recurring problems are patterns. They provide a structured way to capture design and architectural knowledge in a human-readable format.”
Fabian Buhler, Johanna Barzen, Martin Beisel, Daniel Georg, Frank Leymann, and Karoline Wild
- Researchers at the Institute of Architecture of Application Systems, University of Stuttgart, have identified a gap in the field of quantum software engineering.
- Quantum algorithms, which can potentially outperform classical algorithms, are complex to implement and require expertise in quantum computing and software engineering.
- The team notes that there are currently no well-established or well-documented best practices for implementing quantum algorithms and integrating them into applications.
- They propose five patterns that describe solutions for modularisation, integration, and translation of quantum algorithm implementations.
- These patterns aim to extend the existing quantum computing pattern language and improve the reusability of quantum algorithm implementations.
- The researchers highlight the importance of reusability in quantum algorithm implementations, which includes the ability to use the implementation in different applications, for different problem instances, and on different hardware.
- The team’s work could help to standardise practices in the emerging field of quantum software engineering.