On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 11:36:37PM -0500, David Hutto wrote: > My main question/topic, is what is to become of languages like python with > the emergence of quantum computing?
Almost certainly no change. I expect that quantum computing is still decades away from becoming common in high-end supercomputing, and decades more before it becomes mainstream -- if it ever does. But when (if) it does, it will probably require a completely different computing paradigm to take advantage of it. I don't expect it will be something that existing languages will be able to take advantage of except perhaps in extremely narrow areas. It will probably be possible to simulate a Von Neumann or Harvard machine architecture on a Quantum Computer, in which case there may be Python interpreters for them (assuming anyone is still using Python when quantum computers become mainstream). > How will python evolve to meet the needs of these newr technologies > intertwining into the marketplace? It probably won't, in the same way that Python hasn't evolved to suit parallel processing computers. At most, you have a few techniques for adding a sprinkling of parallelism into an otherwise mostly sequential program: threads, and multi-processing. There are a few libraries designed to add parallelism to Python, such as Copperhead and Parallel Python, but the language remains primarily sequential. I see no reason to expect quantum computing will be any different. -- Steven _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
