That’s right, folks—we’re saying goodbye to our longtime home here on Medium.com. Check our new space at ibm.com/quantum/blog for all future Qiskit blogs.
The Qiskit team has spent over seven years building a wonderful community here on the Medium platform. In that time, we’ve used this space to share not only the latest news and updates about Qiskit itself, but also to publish a collection of fascinating stories written by Qiskit users exploring the wide world of quantum software development and quantum information science. Now, we think it’s time for a change of scenery.
As part of ongoing efforts at IBM to pool resources into a unified quantum experience, and to make it easier for our community to find and access the information they care about, we’re building a new home for the Qiskit blog. Moving forward, you’ll find all new Qiskit blog posts published at ibm.com/quantum/blog. Simply click the “Qiskit” tag on the menu in the top left corner of the page, and you’ll be able to see the new Qiskit blog content we plan to start publishing in the weeks and months ahead. Historical content previously posted here on Medium will remain live for your reference.
We may be changing addresses, but we’ll still be bringing you the high-quality quantum computing news, resources and storytelling we’ve been producing for years. So, we hope you’ll bookmark the new blog and check in regularly. You can also follow the IBM Quantum page on LinkedIn for updates featuring the latest blog content.
A look back at seven years of Qiskit blogging
Seven years is a long time, so we thought it would be worth taking a look back at some of the amazing stories we’ve shared here. Below, we’ve compiled a short selection of our personal favorites, as well as a few of the posts that were most popular among our readers.
*PLEASE NOTE*: Many of the articles listed below were published several years ago, meaning they may feature outdated information, broken links, and code examples that no longer work. Be sure to check our documentation for the latest.
Let’s get started with a few stories that signal how just how far we’ve come since launching the Qiskit blog back in 2016. We’ll begin with — what else? — our first post ever. The article was written by IBM researcher James Wootton, who contributed an enormous amount of content to the Qiskit blog in its earliest years:
In reviewing our archive of Qiskit Medium blogs, we were also struck by this 2020 post proposing version 3.0 of the OpenQASM quantum assembly language. It’s fascinating to read about the specific issues and limitations in OpenQASM 2.0 that 3.0 was built to address:
And, of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight the most recent post on Qiskit Medium celebrating the upcoming launch of Qiskit 1.0. Be sure to take a look if you haven’t already:
Quantum Computing Explainers
Learning quantum computing can be easy and fun. Explaining quantum computing concepts—and doing so in a straightforward way that makes those concepts easy to understand—is a little more challenging. That hasn’t stopped us from trying, however. And in many cases, the results of those efforts have given us some of the only layman-friendly explanations of quantum computing concepts that you’ll find just about anywhere.
REMINDER: Keep an eye out for outdated code in this section and check our documentation for up-to-date tutorials on how to implement any of the quantum programming concepts detailed in the articles below.
First up, a popular article which reminds us that, sometimes, even the explainers need a good explainer. This post offers helpful tips for those who want to teach others the basics of what quantum computing is and why it matters. Best of all, the article provides a variety of suggestions for tailoring your explanation of the subject to people — and even non-people — who may have differing levels of expertise:
And here’s a few more of our favorite explainer articles…
The Variational Quantum Eigensolver — examining the inner-workings of the VQE algorithm:
The benefits of high-resolution pulses for quantum computers:
What Is Quantum Volume, Anyway?:
Explore The Clifford Group, A Crucial Tool For Benchmarking, Error Correction, And More:
What Can a Quantum Computer Actually Do? (This post explains where quantum computing sits in the world of computational complexity theory):
What are Qiskit Primitives?:
A user’s guide to the Qiskit Circuit Library:
DIY Quantum Computing Projects
A good explainer will take you a long way when it comes to learning quantum computing fundamentals, but often the best way to learn is not by reading, but by doing. The Qiskit community has brought us tons of creative DIY projects over the years, projects that get users hands on with quantum computing and important concepts in the field. Here are a few of our favorites.
REMINDER: Posts in this section have *a lot* of outdated code, so be sure to check our documentation or consider reaching out to the post author if you’d like to recreate their project!
RasQberry — Quantum Computing is the Coolest Project for Raspberry Pi:
Getting to know your quantum processor (a game that helps users understand the connections between qubits in a quantum device):
Building the world’s smallest quantum classifier:
Introducing Bosonic Qiskit — A package for simulating bosonic and hybrid qubit-bosonic circuits (stay tuned for an upcoming follow-up post to be published on the new Qiskit blog):
Programming a quantum computer—generating true random numbers:
Humans of Quantum
From profiles of the world’s most famous quantum computing researchers to first-person narratives spotlighting everyday users, many of our most popular and compelling blog posts have focused not just on quantum computing, but on the people who are actually doing it.
I’ve Worked in Game Development My Whole Career — Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing:
Why Quantum Computing Pioneer Dorit Aharonov Thinks We Need More People Working on Quantum Algorithms:
I Transitioned to Quantum Computing Later in My Career — Here’s What It Was Like:
Scott Aaronson Says Complexity Theory is ‘Inextricable’ from Quantum Computing:
How Ewin Tang’s Dequantized Algorithms are Helping Quantum Algorithm Researchers:
I Worked in Finance — Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing:
Qiskit Community
The Qiskit community has grown by leaps and bounds since our founding in 2016, and it’s amazing to look back at just how far we’ve come. For example, today our Qiskit Advocates Program is made up of hundreds of quantum computing advocates based all around the world. So, it’s hard to believe that we made our first post launching the program just a few years ago, in late 2019:
The Ultimate Guide for Contributing to Qiskit — No Matter Your Background:
Join Us For The Quantum Women Invited Talk Series:
Quantum Careers
Some of our all-time most popular posts have centered on the subject of quantum careers, and on providing users with tips and tricks for landing a job in the field. These two posts continue to be great resources for anyone in quantum who may be thinking about their next career move:
The Hitchhiking Cat’s Guide to Getting a Job in Quantum Computing (by Jay Gambetta!):
We Asked Experts Their Advice for Getting a Job in Quantum Computing:
See you at the new Qiskit blog!
An article like this one can only ever scratch the surface when it comes to recapping seven full years of amazing storytelling, and there are lots of wonderful pieces that didn’t make the cut. Be sure to take a look through our extensive archive here on Medium for more. We’ll be leaving the Qiskit Medium up for the foreseeable future, so readers can easily reference our past articles.
We may be closing the chapter on our time here at Medium.com, but the story is far from over! Be sure to head over to ibm.com/quantum/blog to keep up with the latest and greatest from the Qiskit team.
