The Microsoft Build 2019 developer conference—held in Seattle the week of May 6— was by all measures a big success. It had a heavy dose of news and events focused on the cloud, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Plus, those in attendance heard about our vision for the future of computing.
Our quantum team made several presentations during Build, ranging from explanations of what quantum computing is, to how to program today for tomorrow’s quantum machines, to using modern developer tools to make programming for quantum easier. Some highlights include:
Realizing quantum solutions today with quantum-inspired Optimization and the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit chemistry library
Our Quantum team members, Martin Roetteler and Helmut Katzgraber, along with CEO and co-founder of 1Qbit, Andrew Fursman, provided an overview of quantum solutions being developed today. They showcased several case studies, which included the applications of quantum-inspired optimization and solutions provided in the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit chemistry library. Watch the session here.
Programming for a quantum computer with Q# and Visual Studio
Quantum team member Bettina Heim led a hands-on session explaining the importance of our Quantum Development Kit in developing quantum solutions. She reviewed our Q# programming language; developer tools such as Python and Microsoft Visual Studio that can be used in conjunction with Q#; our quantum simulators that perform tasks such as estimated needed quantum resources; and our libraries of resources and documentation. Watch the session here.
Learning Q# with Python
In this lively presentation, Sarah Kaiser – a research engineer for Pensar Development – did smooth transitions from “what is a quantum computer?”, to how quantum computing will change fields such as materials science, to how to use Python and Jupyter Notebooks with our Q# programming language to get started on quantum programming today. Watch the session here.
Developing with the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit and Jupyter Notebook
Our quantum team members Andres Paz and Chris Granade talked about how quantum computers will work in tandem with classical computers to solve tough problems. Paz explained what makes our Q# programming language such a great tool, while Granade also discussed how to simulate the whimsical idea of “quantum teleportation” using Q# and The Jupyter Notebook. Watch the session here.
You can find additional videos from Build—including Satya Nadella’s keynote—here. Additional quantum resources include:
- The Quantum Development Kit.
- Quantum Katas, our learn-at-your own pace tools for getting started with quantum.
- The Q# developer blog.
- And our newsletter, to keep up to date.