Classical and Quantum Data Interaction in Programming Languages: A Runtime Architecture

Abstract: We propose a runtime architecture that can be used in the development of a quantum programming language and its programming environment. The proposed runtime architecture enables dynamic interaction between classical and quantum data following the restriction that a quantum computer is available in the cloud as a batch computer, with no interaction with the classical computer during its execution. It is done by leaving the quantum code generation for the runtime and introducing the concept of futures for quantum measurements. When implemented in a quantum programming language, those strategies aim to facilitate the development of quantum applications, especially for beginning programmers and students. Being suitable for the current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) Computers, the runtime architecture is also appropriate for simulation and future Fault-Tolerance Quantum Computers.