On Testing Quantum Programs
This work is incremental, focusing on defining initial practices for software engineers working with quantum computers.
The paper addresses the challenge of testing quantum programs by identifying key difficulties and proposing initial solutions, aiming to establish foundational software engineering practices for quantum computing.
A quantum computer (QC) can solve many computational problems more efficiently than a classic one. The field of QCs is growing: companies (such as DWave, IBM, Google, and Microsoft) are building QC offerings. We position that software engineers should look into defining a set of software engineering practices that apply to QC's software. To start this process, we give examples of challenges associated with testing such software and sketch potential solutions to some of these challenges.