Introduction

I have been meaning to delve deeper into the spooky realm of Quantum Computing for a while now, but every time some other distraction (Deep learning, Reinforcement learning, Julia, ML Competitions, etc.) diverts my attention. This time, I’ve decided to stick with the plan and see this through to the end. This #30DaysOfQC challenge is a measure to make it more probable, InshaAllah.

What is #30DaysOfQC Challenge?

Much like the #30DaysOfCode challenge, where the participants strive to code for 30 consecutive days, I’ll be committing to learning about Quantum Computing for a minimum of 1 hour every day for the next 30 days. This includes both the theory, as well as the practical aspect of it. Same as the #30DaysOfCode challenge, I’ll be publicly posting my progress; on Twitter, this blog, and YouTube (hopefully 🙄).

Why I’m doing this?

There are a number of reasons for this, both internal and external.

Public accountability

By committing to this task publicly, I’ve made a promise to all of you. This motivates me to go through with this to the end. Otherwise, I’d be going back on my word and will lose the respect and confidence of others. I have found this to be a powerful incentive to stick with something. Hopefully, this will work this time as well, InshaAllah.

A better understanding

Another powerful reason behind this challenge is The Feynman Technique, which states that to better understand a topic, you have to teach it to someone else as well. I know that was a crude oversimplification, but the point is, teaching and explaining a concept in simple terms helps in having a better understanding of the topic. By committing to writing a small blog post/twitter thread/YouTube video explaining what I learned that day, I’ll be helping myself along the way, forcing myself to have a deeper understanding of the topic in order to not mess up the teaching/explaining aspect.

Daily log

This will also act as a daily log, highlighting the path I took and the progress I made along my learning journey. This will be beneficial for both future me as well as others who might want to start this journey sometime in the future. This would give them a lay of the quantum land and help them in devising a better path (learning from my mistakes).

How I’m going about doing this?

I haven’t devised a concrete learning path for this yet, and I don’t believe doing that would be helpful. I’ll pick things up along the way, based on the feedback of others, and my own level of understanding.

For the time being, I’m thinking about first completing the free pathways on Black Opal site, as they are very easy to digest and their interactive visualizations and exercises are really helpful to drive a point home. After that, I’ll start the book by Thomas Wong, Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing. Then, I’m not sure if I should go the Mike and Ike route, or if I should learn more about Quantum Machine Learning. Or maybe I should explore the amazing resources (textbooks and courses) by Qiskit and/or Xanadu Quantum Codebook. Only time will tell.

So, that’s the plan for the next 30 days, InshaAllah. Thirty days, filled with Quantum Spookiness and inspiration. Wish me luck 🙂