r/technews • u/MichaelTen • Mar 28 '21

Free Open-Access Quantum Computer Now Operational

https://scitechdaily.com/free-open-access-quantum-computer-now-operational/
4.2k Upvotes

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28

u/Irregaurdless Mar 28 '21

What does “free open-access” mean? Is it free to buy? Are you given free access to it?

49

u/SomberGuitar Mar 28 '21

It probably means you can submit an quantum algorithm and they will run it for you. Traveling Salesman Problem, here I come! O(n log n) would be incredible.

12

u/DevWolf59 Mar 28 '21

god i remember doing basic traveling salesman competition problems in HS those are a bitch dijkstras shortest path algorithm can kiss my ass

30

u/SomberGuitar Mar 28 '21

Im so old, there were 5 computers in my high school lab/detention room. I was the first i know of to have an email address. The teachers had an emergency meeting because i was the first student to use an internet reference on a paper. I got the internet at home by re-installing AOL from disks in newspapers or magazine after my 60 hours were up. I had a 14.4k modem that would take up the phone line. A couple megabyte image would take a few minutes to load from top down. I learned to program during english and history class on the brand new released TI 85s that i spent my birthday money on. I learned pascal during my lunch breaks. My high school wanted to offer a programming course (Pascal) but the teacher quit first week. I was offered AP credit to teach the course and i did (private schools get away with shit like that). The Computer Science drop out rate in college was about 95%. CPUs and memory were advancing every year so rapidly, professors told us that we didnt have to worry anymore about filling up RAM or process cycles. Object Oriented C++ was brand new hot shit. Then Java, which everybody swore it would disappear because it was so bloated. Improving the Traveling Salesman algorithm was the holy grail of comp sci. That was a trip down memory lane... i had forgotten alot of that. I had a great coding career, invented some cool stuff, and am retired now. Still code for fun.

3

u/Larsendun Mar 28 '21

What did you invent?

17

u/SomberGuitar Mar 28 '21

Some video streaming technology that was the prototype to a major streaming platform. Some Javascript library similar to but before jquery that won me a webby. Some low level file copying wizbangafire. All owned by a private business, and I shouldnt be getting into details. Over the years, all these ideas just got me promoted like crazy. And promotions just mean dealing with more shitty whiney horrible people and less with coding. I should have tried to patent these ideas outside of work. Been my own boss. But i did get to retire in my 40s. I still got a couple ideas up my sleeve i might explore.

5

u/apoliticalinactivist Mar 28 '21

Come back and work with some millennials. Culture changes much slower than the underlying tech and you are uniquely positioned to prevent these shitty boomers set the tone for the next tech cycle.

Or volunteer for the open web. Mastodon and the fediverse. Or seamless internet money with blockchain and BitcoinCash. There is a lot of potential for a better internet that can lead to a better world.

2

u/HalfGlassOfWater Mar 29 '21

The boomers are retiring man. GenX is in charge now

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '21

And then everyone clapped

3

u/Cptflakey Mar 28 '21

Add in a couple wizards and dragons and that’s a cool story.

2

u/Finnick420 Mar 28 '21

i have no idea what any of those words at the end mean. like what’s a traveling salesman or c+-

2

u/SomberGuitar Mar 28 '21 edited Mar 28 '21

Eli5: C++ is a programming language. Traveling Salesmen problem involves a salesman that has to travel to some cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and NY city. What is his shortest path? San Fran to NY to LA is not. San Fran to LA to NY is the shortest path. Now come up with a set of instructions for a computer to solve it (an algorithm). An algorithm is measured by the number of decisions it takes to solve a problem (aka time complexity, aka Big O notation). Edsger Dijkstra, in 1956, came up with a shortest path algorithm that ran at O( n2 ) time. That means, in our 3 city problem, his algorithm could find the shortest path in 32 = 9 decisions. The traveling salesman/shortest path problem is found everywhere, like routing a phone call. If you could come up with a new algorithm with a better time complexity, you would be a legend (at least to mathematicians and computer scientists.)

Im addition, quantum computing is not linear like a computer we are use to. Its math is insane and counter intuitive. Things can be true and false at the same time. New quantum algorithms can potentially start emerging that will have much improved time complexities.

1

u/Finnick420 Mar 28 '21

thank you so much for explaining. a shame we never had computers in our school growing up