Is Haskell suitable for quantum computing?
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I have just read an article talking about quantum physics. One interesting thing is that in a Haskell programmer's view there are some similarities between these two fields.

First of all, measurement in the quantum world seems similar to lazy evaluation in Haskell: if you do not measure, you don't know whether the cat is living or dead. If you do not evaluate, you don't know whether the value is defined or undefined.

Second, in quantum we have the EPR paradox, which can be explained by interactions with speed higher than light, or equivalently, a time machine. In Haskell, as we have seen in Assembly: Circular Programming with Recursive do -Monad.Reader issue 6, we can access a value that came from the future by use of recursive do.

Finally, in quantum we have to distinguish the observable world in which entropy never decreases, and the "pure" quantum world in which time is equivalent in both directions. In Haskell we have the IO() world that describes what the program actually does, and the pure functional world that never has side effects, and the values never depend on evaluation order.

So I guess the above facts suggest there are some inter-connections between these two fields. Can this have more interesting consequences? For example, although I have talked about the EPR paradox, I don't know how to create a Haskell program to simulate this: a function creates two values, and later evaluation of one of them will affect the other (I think those values must have IO() types but I don't know how to put them together).

Deste answered 27/8, 2013 at 12:39 Comment(5)
A computer language consists of more than a theoretical concept. Even though two concepts are (or seem) similar does not necessarily have anything to do with whether one fits the other in any usable way.Chery
Using the phrase "time machine" suggests that you haven't fully understood the EPR paradox. For an outstandingly clear explanation see Mermin's article: theorie.physik.uni-konstanz.de/juan/pub/….Eelpout
All these analogies are... well, heuristic, and honestly just wrong for most part. But this is still a good question.Groscr
@DominicSteinitz No, "time machine" explanation was suggested by a book I have read. The author suggest that the effect of measurement is actually travels back to the time the two related articles being separated.Deste
Without using quantum physics, "interaction faster than light" means "for some observers the result happens before its reason" and means "time machine". So if "interaction faster than light" can explain so do "time machine".Deste
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Haskell has been used as a quantum programming language for a while now.

The primary point of reference would be the Quipper DSL in Haskell.

And more fun stuff - http://www.kurzweilai.net/quipper-language-makes-quantum-computers-easier-to-program

Tessler answered 27/8, 2013 at 13:42 Comment(2)
Also see Amr Sabry's Modeling Quantum Computing in Haskell - cs.indiana.edu/~sabry/papers/quantum.pdf and Jerzy Karczmarczuk's Structure and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics - karczmarczuk.users.greyc.fr/arpap/hasiqm.pdf. Both appeared at the 2003 Haskell Workshop.Whaler
Thanks, can you explain a bit more about the simple teleport program which appears in your final reference link? It looks very interesting.Deste

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