Constantly increasing rates of development in the field of quantum computers allow us to say with certainty that a full-fledged quantum computer will still be created. However, the development of programs on quantum computers will require not only qualified personnel, but also development tools, called the Dev kit (short for Development Kit). Therefore, Microsoft decided to “catch the wave” and introduced the first version of the software development kit for quantum computers.
Dev kit is called the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit. It includes a programming language for Q # quantum systems, as well as a simulator capable of simulating 30-qubit quantum systems. The latter will allow developers to debug the code of their programs on local computers. In addition to the “basic” version of the simulator, Microsoft also provides a more powerful version capable of simulating already 40-qubit quantum systems. They are already based on the Azure cloud service. It’s worth mentioning that Microsoft Visual Studio is used as a development environment, so most of the specialists will work in the usual environment. According to Microsoft Vice President Todd Holmdahl,
“We want to give future developers the opportunity to work in their familiar environment, which will allow us to focus on the features of the field of quantum computing. It will be difficult for a typical programmer to switch to “quantum rails”, but we are going to make this process as convenient and easy as possible. We hope that the development kit created by us will allow us to identify people whose unconventional thinking will enable them to make the most efficient use of new quantum tools. “