For touching on the topic like Quantum Computing, it make sense for quick to understanding the advantages and disadvantages of Quantum Computing as part of the series of topic under this theme. Let get start from advantages and follow with disadvantages of Quantum Computing.
The advantages of Quantum Computing
Like the recent IBM first commercial Quantum Computing breakthrough and show case. It has been shown in theory that a quantum computer will be able to perform any task that a classical computer can, and recent IBM show case demonstrated it as well. However, this does not necessarily mean that a quantum computer will outperform a classical computer for all types of task (in particularly once you add in the cost in the consideration). If we use our classical algorithms on a quantum computer, it will simply perform the calculation in a similar manner to a classical computer. In order for a quantum computer to show its superiority it needs to use new what we call ‘quantum algorithms’ which can exploit the phenomenon of quantum parallelism. In another word, if just repeat the same algorithms, nothing much to be gain.
Such algorithms are not easy to formulate, it take time and research and development (R&D) effort and resources to discover what work. A well know example for one of the algorithm is the quantum factorization algorithm created by Peter Shor of AT&T Bell laboratories. What the algorithm do is tackles the problem of factorizing large numbers into its prime factors. And this task is classically very difficult to solve (base on current technology). Shor’s algorithm cleverly uses the effects of quantum parallelism to give the results of the prime factorization problem in a matter of seconds whereas a classical computer would take, in some cases, more than the age of the universe to produce a result! (You can notice that no just technology, but also require new breakthrough algorithm and we do require other supporting technology such as leverage of machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, Cloud Computing to accelerate Quantum Computing development. Above just an example, you can get a lot from the various news, since the world is keep evolving.
The disadvantages of Quantum Computing
First thing first, it is cost. Even IBM recent show case their first commercial Quantum Computing solution, it is make viable sense to offer as “subscription” basis base on the use case on demand only. For the Quantum Computing to be really achieve critical mass adoption, it take a long time for all the cost variable become reasonable, then we can see how Quantum Computing revolution the current mass technology. So, it make sense to be aware that is coming, but may or may not necessary to heavy invest on it yet.
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