research-article

Silq: a high-level quantum language with safe uncomputation and intuitive semantics

Authors:

Benjamin Bichsel,

Maximilian Baader,

Martin VechevAuthors Info & Claims

PLDI 2020: Proceedings of the 41st ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation

Pages 286 - 300

https://doi.org/10.1145/3385412.3386007

Published: 11 June 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Existing quantum languages force the programmer to work at a low level of abstraction leading to unintuitive and cluttered code. A fundamental reason is that dropping temporary values from the program state requires explicitly applying quantum operations that safely uncompute these values.

We present Silq, the first quantum language that addresses this challenge by supporting safe, automatic uncomputation. This enables an intuitive semantics that implicitly drops temporary values, as in classical computation. To ensure physicality of Silq's semantics, its type system leverages novel annotations to reject unphysical programs.

Our experimental evaluation demonstrates that Silq programs are not only easier to read and write, but also significantly shorter than equivalent programs in other quantum languages (on average -46% for Q#, -38% for Quipper), while using only half the number of quantum primitives.

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Cited By

Hirata KHeunen C(2025)Qurts: Automatic Quantum Uncomputation by Affine Types with LifetimeProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/37048429:POPL(155-182)Online publication date: 9-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3704842
Osaba EMiranda-Rodriguez P(2025)D-Wave’s Nonlinear-Program Hybrid Solver: Description and Performance AnalysisIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2025.352562013(4724-4736)Online publication date: 2025
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3525620
Assolini NDi Pierro AMastroeni I(2025)Static Analysis of Quantum ProgramsStatic Analysis10.1007/978-3-031-74776-2_1(1-25)Online publication date: 21-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74776-2_1
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Index Terms

Silq: a high-level quantum language with safe uncomputation and intuitive semantics
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Architectures
    1. Other architectures
      1. Quantum computing
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Formal language definitions
    2. General programming languages
      1. Language features

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cover image ACM Conferences

PLDI 2020: Proceedings of the 41st ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation

June 2020

1174 pages

ISBN:9781450376136

DOI:10.1145/3385412

General Chair:
Alastair F. Donaldson
Imperial College London, UK
,
Program Chair:
Emina Torlak
University of Washington, USA

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

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Published: 11 June 2020

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PLDI '20: 41st ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation

June 15 - 20, 2020

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Cited By

Hirata KHeunen C(2025)Qurts: Automatic Quantum Uncomputation by Affine Types with LifetimeProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/37048429:POPL(155-182)Online publication date: 9-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3704842
Osaba EMiranda-Rodriguez P(2025)D-Wave’s Nonlinear-Program Hybrid Solver: Description and Performance AnalysisIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2025.352562013(4724-4736)Online publication date: 2025
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3525620
Assolini NDi Pierro AMastroeni I(2025)Static Analysis of Quantum ProgramsStatic Analysis10.1007/978-3-031-74776-2_1(1-25)Online publication date: 21-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74776-2_1
Venev HGehr TDimitrov DVechev M(2024)Modular Synthesis of Efficient Quantum UncomputationProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36897858:OOPSLA2(2097-2124)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689785
Jeon SCho KKang CLee JOh HKang J(2024)Quantum Probabilistic Model Checking for Time-Bounded PropertiesProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36897318:OOPSLA2(557-587)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689731
Kang CLee JOh H(2024)Statistical Testing of Quantum Programs via Fixed-Point Amplitude AmplificationProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36897168:OOPSLA2(140-164)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689716
Wright CLuján MPetoumenos PGoodacre JErtl MKirsch C(2024)Quff: A Dynamically Typed Hybrid Quantum-Classical Programming LanguageProceedings of the 21st ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Managed Programming Languages and Runtimes10.1145/3679007.3685063(65-81)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679007.3685063
Carette JHeunen CKaarsgaard RSabry A(2024)How to Bake a Quantum ΠProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36746258:ICFP(1-29)Online publication date: 15-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674625
Paltenghi MPradel M(2024)Analyzing Quantum Programs with LintQ: A Static Analysis Framework for QiskitProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36608021:FSE(2144-2166)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
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Yuan CCarbin M(2024)The T-Complexity Costs of Error Correction for Control Flow in Quantum ComputationProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36563978:PLDI(492-517)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656397
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