"Experimental quantum computing is still a relatively new discipline and comparable to the early days of classical computers in the 1950s."

This is one of the most interesting aspects of the current state of quantum computing. For anybody who 'wishes they were there' in the early days of classical computer development, whether it be Bletchley Park or Bell Labs, this is as good a chance as any to be one of the pioneers.

Anyone interested in the nitty gritty should brush up on their maths skills and pick up a copy of the excellent "Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction" by Eleanor Rieffel and Wolfgang Polak.

Agree with the book recommendation.

Study linear algebra first!

What is a recommended linear algebra text?

This is enough: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...

Otherwise known as: https://cds.cern.ch/record/1522001/files/978-1-4614-6336-8_B...

One of the co-authors here. Never expected this to end up on HN! For people interested in quatum computing and open source tools, we're also organizing a quantum computing track at FOSDEM19 (February, Brussels) [1].

[1] https://qosf.github.io/fosdem19/

Thanks for your detailed report! I'm a contributor to a couple of those projects, and it's great to see this kind of feedback.

https://qosf.org from the paper is currently off-line.

This is probably a DNS issue, that I noticed some time ago - using some DNS servers, the qosf.org resolves to wrong IP (which we don't have in our zone at all). If somebody has an idea where this might be coming from, I would be very interested in hearing that.

The correct IP to, i.e. put into /etc/hosts as an workaround is: 169.55.161.194

EDIT: Actually, I might have fixed it. Let me know if you still can't access the website.

Things look okay, now, to me.

https://www.whatsmydns.net/#A/qosf.org

But it says call for participation ended 2 weeks ago. Are you going to have something else available?

Hi! Maybe this is a misunderstanding due to FOSDEM lingo - call for participation is not an registration/invite, it is the equivalent of call for papers (that is, talk submissions).

FOSDEM [1] is open to all (there is no registration or fees) - and several thousands of people come every year.

[1] https://fosdem.org/2019/

But otherwise it is a just show up event? Also if it is too late to give a talk, could one do a poster etc?

We don't do poster sessions, but we have a dedicated slot for lightning talks in one of the two days. Shoot us an email at info@qosf.org and we'll see if it's a good fit.