Last year, Microsoft rolled out a public preview of Quantum Development Kit. While still in preview, the company has been adding new features and abilities to the developer programming tool. The latest functionality coming to the service includes improved developer tools and a new chemistry library.
Quantum Development Kit gives developers tools to learn how to program a quantum computer. The tool was launched alongside Microsoft’s Q# programming language for simulating quantum computing.
Microsoft’s service has a compiler for scalable quantum computing. Visual Studio integration and Azure cloud support allows over 40 logical qubits of power. The kit also contains debugging capabilities, as well as extensive libraries, samples, and documentation.
With the latest update, Microsoft has brought the following features to Quantum Development Kit:
- “New quantum chemistry library. The new quantum chemistry library can be used to develop quantum simulation solutions in the chemistry domain.
- Improved Q# developer experience. The Quantum Development Kit now delivers deeper integration with Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. This update includes live feedback as you type, with errors indicated by underlined errors and warnings.
- New Q# language capabilities. The Q# programming language has been extended in ways that unify how developers code common operations, such as iteration over arrays, making coding in Q# easier and faster.”
Quantum Computing
Debuting on Windows 10, Microsoft later expanded the Quantum Development Kit to MacOS and Linux. The expansion to other platforms allowed the tool to reach more developers. Microsoft wants quantum computing to be the future and predicts it will solve many of today’s technological problems.
Microsoft returned to the kit in the summer with a performance-focused update. The release for version 0.2.1806 brought an improved simulation experience to the Quantum Development Kit. Microsoft also rolled out two features called DumpMachine and DumpRegister. Both output probability information regarding quantum machine targets.
