An introduction to the concept of a quantum computer, including algorithms that outperform classical computation and methods for performing quantum computation reliably in the presence of noise. As this is a multidisciplinary subject, the course will cover basic concepts in theoretical computer science and physics in addition to introducing core quantum computing topics.
Why did I take this class??
Quantum computing was (and is) super interesting. Maybe not too useful for the average computer science student though.
Summary
This has been one of my favorite classes at UMD. I feel super lucky that UMD offers such a class, as it seems that most universities do not.
I would recommend this class to anyone interested in the subject, but I feel like you need a strong math background to be successful. 403 and 405 are recommended (by me, not officially).
It is very interesting to see some of the problems that can be solved more efficiently with quantum computers.
As I remember Professor Childs once said in 451, you need a very specific type of structure for the problem to be solved faster with quantum.
I didn't understand what he meant at the time, but now I feel like I have the some of the intuition to make sense of it.
I was not a big fan of the group project, but I think it would be a good assignment if executed in the right way. Overall, the class is very well designed though.
This class inspired me to sign up for PHYS467 to learn more about quantum computing.
I am also now able to see through the garbage articles online that usually only say something about how qubits carry a value that is a mix of 0 and 1.