Lisp at the Frontier of Computation, by Robert Smith at Rigetti Computing
Arthur Gleckler3 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2017–2019
talk · intermediate · 2017–2019 on HN
Robert Smith of Rigetti Computing talks at a Bay Area Lisp and Scheme meetup about using Common Lisp for quantum computing. He covers the technical, sociological and psychological sides of working across disciplines.
Recommended as a real-world case of Lisp in a cutting-edge industry, applied to quantum hardware.
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6 comments from Hacker News
Lisp at the Frontier of Computation, by Robert Smith at Rigetti Computing ▶ this video About the application of Lisp on quantum hardware.
Rigetti Quantum Computing [0] is a YC startup that actually manufactures real quantum computers that are accessible through Forest. There are a couple neat videos about the tech. [1,2] You can access the service through a Python API [3]. Disclaimer: I work there. [0] link [1] “Lisp at the Frontier of Computation” ▶ this video [2] Rigetti talk at QIP 2017 link [3] link
Interesting in this regard might also be the talk that Robert Smith of Rigetti Computing recently gave: ▶ this video Apart from praising Common Lisp he describes how they are building an assembler-like language for quantum computing. The HN thread: link
Shameless smuglispweeniesm: Rigetti is one of the companies using Common Lisp in their research and development. ▶ this video
Rigetti Computing [1] uses it for a variety of their projects, including their high-performance quantum computer simulator called the QVM [2], and their quantum compiler. Some of their use of Lisp has been presented in more detail at the European Lisp Symposium. You can see it in the Cutting Edge section of the proceedings [3]. [1] link [2] ▶ this video [3] link
Rigetti Quantum Computing is a relatively recent YC startup that happens to use Common Lisp for building out their quantum programming language, compiler, and simulator stack. For those tasks, it has been an excellent choice, especially given the hugely exploratory and rapidly evolving space. Rigetti hosted one of the Lisp meetups to talk about their use of Lisp and it was recorded in a talk "Lisp at the Frontier of Computation" [0]. [0] ▶ this video (Disclaimer: I'm the speaker in the video.)