Author Archives: dabacon

Qafblog

Posted on April 18, 2020 by dabacon

“We are in a box,” says me. “Do you see some radium hooked up to a crazy steampunk device with skulls and crossbones and yellow, definitely yellow, but maybe also neon green or wavey blue?” says Qubitslets. “No I think … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Posted on April 17, 2020 by dabacon

Is this thing on?

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Quantum in the wild

Posted on September 3, 2018 by dabacon

Sometimes quantum appears out of nowhere when you least expect it. From the September 2, 2018 edition of the New York Times Magazine.

Posted in Quantum, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Quantum Computers Are…

Posted on September 3, 2018 by dabacon

Quantum computers are Blue versions of classical computers [1] [2] [3][4] Blue or grey abstract patterns [1] [2][3][4][5][6] A bunch of connectors [1][2] Blurred out chips [1] What goes inside the dilution fridge [1][2][3] Closed dilution fridges [1] Part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Funny Ha Ha, Quantum Computing | 5 Comments

Un-renunciation

Posted on August 22, 2018 by dabacon

Can pontiffs un-retire (un-renunciate)?  I mean, I retired from being a pontiff way before it was cool.  But now the sweet siren call of trying to figure out whether there is really a there there for noisy intermediate scale quantum … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Seattle for QIPers

Posted on January 5, 2017 by dabacon

QIP 2017 is coming to Seattle, hosted by the QuArC group at Microsoft, January 16-20 (with tutorials on the 14th and 15th). If you have some spare moments, maybe you arrive early, or maybe you are planning for the afternoon … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum, Seattle | 5 Comments

5 Years!

Posted on July 16, 2016 by dabacon

Five years ago I (it’s me Dave Bacon former supposed pseudo-professor and one time quantum pontiff) jumped off the academic ship, swam to shore, and put on a new set of clothes as a software developer for Google. Can it … Continue reading →

Posted in Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self., Where's Dabacon? | 5 Comments

What If Papers Had APIs?

Posted on March 27, 2015 by dabacon

API is an abbreviation that stands for “Application Program Interface.” Roughly speaking an API is a specification of a software component in terms of the operations one can perform with that component. For example, a common kind of an API … Continue reading →

Posted in Extralusionary Intelligence, Science 2.0, The Loony Bin Called Academia | 13 Comments

QIP 2015 Talks Available

Posted on March 27, 2015 by dabacon

Talks from QIP 2015 are now available on this YouTube channel. Great to see! I’m still amazed by the wondrous technology that allows me to watch talks given on the other side of the world, at my own leisure, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Computing, Science 2.0 | Leave a comment

Should Papers Have Unit Tests?

Posted on January 7, 2015 by dabacon

Perhaps the greatest shock I’ve had in moving from the hallowed halls of academia to the workman depths of everyday software development is the amount of testing that is done when writing code. Likely I’ve written more test code than … Continue reading →

Posted in Off The Deep End, Programming | 5 Comments