zlacker

>>qqqqqu+(OP)
Quantum Computers. Not like I'm five, but like I'm a software engineer who has a pretty decent understanding of how a classical turing machine works. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say "qubits are like bits except they don't have to be just 1 or 0" without providing any coherent explanation of how that's useful. I've also heard that they can try every possible solution to a problem. What I don't understand is how a programmer is supposed to determine the correct solution when their computer is out in some crazy multiverse. I guess what I want is some pseudo code for quantum software.

>>arkanc+ps
There is a comic (maybe SMBC) that covers the whole commonly false belief surrounding qubits.

>>7thacc+Wy
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-talk-3

The basic gist I get is that quantum computing, for a very specific set of problems, like optimization, let's you search the space more efficiently. With quantum mechanics you can associate computations with positive or negative probability amplitudes. With the right design, you cause multiple paths to incorrect answers to have opposite amplitudes, so that interference causes them to cancel out and not actually happen to begin with. That's just my reading of the comic over and over though.

>>klmadf+xB
Along those same lines, I once heard a description that went something like: "Imagine a Jenga tower so precisely balanced that, when it falls over, it spells out the answer."