Quantum types: going beyond qubits and quantum gates

Quantum computing is a growing field with significant potential applications. Learning how to code quantum programs means understanding how qubits work and learning to use quantum gates. This is analogous to creating classical algorithms using logic gates and bits. Even after learning all concepts, it is difficult to create new algorithms, which hinders the acceptance of quantum programming by most developers.This article outlines the need for higher-level abstractions and proposes some of them in a developer-friendly programming language called Rhyme. The new quantum types are extensions of classical types, including bits, integers, floats, characters, arrays, and strings. We show how to use such types with code snippets.CCS CONCEPTS• Software and its engineering → Imperative languages; • Computer systems organization → Quantum computing; • Hardware → Quantum computation.