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 Post Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:17 pm 
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Aimed squarely at "Resident Geekazoid", whom if public opinion is to believed in another thread has far too much time on his hands since he retired... :dance2:

Microsoft have launched "Microsoft Quantum".

I don't/can't do coding so most of the following flies right over my head, that said, i do find the concept intriguing.

September:
Microsoft makes play for next wave of computing with quantum computing toolkit
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09 ... m-toolkit/

As things stand today:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/

cf.
Welcome to the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit Preview
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantu ... rp-preview
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantu ... rp-preview


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 Post Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 6:43 pm 
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Haven't read the links yet but will. Just posting so I can easily find again... ;)

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 Post Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 7:04 am 
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I had heard years ago that this might be coming. I didn't believe it, too far fetched. They said if they could perfect this that instead of a computer doing a calculation in a particular instant, they would now be able to do a million or something like that. My gosh, this stuff might actually be coming. Hello, Commander Data.
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 Post Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:43 pm 
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Hmmm, looks interesting. I don't know that I'll 'play' with it but may. Just looking at the example structure I would probably not have too bad of a learning curve. The basic structure in the example shows it to be a 'scripting language' like JavaScript and PHP. I know enough PHP to be able to make simple edits and am somewhat fluent with JavaScript. Used JavaScript extensively when I used to do web design.

In fact the copyright notice at the bottom right of the forum pages is a JavaScript routine I added to automatically include the current year without actually updating the site code. Come January 1st, 2018 the 2017 in the notice will automatically change to 2018 without any interaction. I know... sounds trivial but is actually pretty handy. Without this code I'd have to manually replace the year every year. Not a big deal but sloppy.

Yes, there would still be a lot of learning but being familiar with the structure would be a decent head start. ;)

Just to show what I mean here is a JavaScript snippet to change the scrollbar color on a page.
Code:
function changeScrollbarColor(C)
{
     if (document.all)
     {
      document.body.style.scrollbarBaseColor = C;
      }
}


Now here is a snippet from the Q# example in the links.
Code:
  let current = M(q1);

            if (desired != current)
            {
                X(q1);
            }

As can be seen they look very much alike. That is the structure aspect to which I refer.

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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:15 am 
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I am such a glutton for punishment! I'm in the process of installing the danged thing.

For any thinking about doing the same consider that this takes a LOT of system memory. One note is that you must install Visual Studio first. There is a free version.

I imagine that the large usage of system memory is largely due to the fact that you are running a virtual machine as there is no actual Quantum Computer in existence. LOL! This is almost like putting the cart before the horse as we have a programming language before there is actually anything to run it on. ;)

<edit>
Total install took about 45-60 minutes but part of that is probably due to the instructions being a bit obscure. The install does require a system restart so I must assume that the thing 'hooks' pretty deep in the system.

I already don't like the user interface but may after I actually figure it out. My main gripe is that I plain cannot find the paths to sample tests I'm supposed to run.

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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:23 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
I am such a glutton for punishment! I'm in the process of installing the danged thing.

:rofl2:

Quote:
My main gripe is that I plain cannot find the paths to sample tests I'm supposed to run.

Very much an un-educated guess but could one of the following be what you're looking for?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantu ... rp-preview
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/quantu ... rp-preview

Note: the two links above have the potential to appear the same when abbreviated by the CH Forum software but they are in fact two different links.


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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:59 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Just to show what I mean here is a JavaScript snippet to change the scrollbar color on a page.
Code:
function changeScrollbarColor(C)
{
     if (document.all)
     {
      document.body.style.scrollbarBaseColor = C;
      }
}


Now here is a snippet from the Q# example in the links.
Code:
  let current = M(q1);

            if (desired != current)
            {
                X(q1);
            }

As can be seen they look very much alike. That is the structure aspect to which I refer.

Erm, actually, they looking nothing alike to me, closes case for my knowing nothing about coding! :dunno: :rofl2:


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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:19 pm 
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Both using {} to surround functions and both using an 'If command' with the argument surrounded by (). The words are different but the structure is very alike.

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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 6:32 pm 
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I'd say that makes sense, but nope, it doesn't... :rofl2:

<edit>
Talking of things that make no sense, i also cannot get my head around how this is possible...

This is a single lap of 37 miles of country roads at over 200mph by 23 times winner of the Isle of Man on the Isle of Man in 2015...

The mind boggles how this is possible... it's real time, ALL OF IT, no camera trickery!

:shock: :bow7:

<edit 2>
adding the link might help! LOL
https://youtu.be/U_M85L2Yuv4


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 Post Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:35 pm 
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Oh well, I used to do a LOT of code and you did not. Definitely would make our perspective different. ;)

Café road racing is absolutely nuts!

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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:40 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Café road racing is absolutely nuts!

Café racing, i haven't heard anyone use that for years :)

Reminds me of the first bike i ever bought, a Suzuki GP125
http://www.suzukicycles.org/photos/GP/G ... us_500.jpg

After owning it for about 6 months i decided to make it look a bit more "Café racer" by replacing the handlebars with dropped ones...
Being only 17 with absolutely no knowledge of things mechanical what could possibly go wrong (lol, you know where this is going, don't you?), it looked simple enough to remove the original handlebars and bolt the after market ones in place.

And so it proved, in around 30 minutes I'd replaced the handlebars, proud of my achievement i decided to go for a run.... this went well until i got to the first junction and tried to slow down... the throttle was jammed wide open!! :shock: :o

I pulled in the clutch and hit the kill switch, nothing happened, the engine was still running and the engine was SCREAMING!!! The rev counter was beyond the red line and stuck fast against the needle stop!!
I turned off the ignition and removed the key, still the engine was screaming!!!

By this point I'm off the bike, it's on its side stand and I'm scratching my head to work out wtf is happening and how to turn the engine off as i move ever further away for fear of the engine exploding!

In the end i turned the fuel tap off and waited for it to run of petrol... after what seemed like an eternity it finally ran out of petrol and shut itself down.

I called the bike shop where I'd bought the bike from and they picked it up and took it to their workshop, checked it out, fortunately no damage was caused.

When i went to pick the bike up i asked why the kill switch or turning off the ignition and removing the key hadn't worked... they explained that i hadn't re-routed the throttle cable when i changed the handlebars and that caused a tight spot in the cable that meant when the throttle was closed the cable didn't move leaving he carburettor in the wide open position.
He went on... the reason switching everything off didn't work was because by then the spark plug had become so hot it was causing the fuel in the combustion chamber to self ignite which then drew in more fuel etc.

I became a lot more pedantic after that day ;)


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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:31 pm 
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My first was a Honda CB 550. I also changed bares but just to a widere set for more leverage.
Image

This was my last, an 1100 Honda Shadow. Stripped the chrome off of the pipes and went flat black.
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 Post Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:07 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
My first was a Honda CB 550.

My third was a CB400/four, damn i loved that bike, it was an absolute pig and i never could get the tappets to run in sync so it always sounded like a bag nails but for pure fun, it came with a 'hinged frame' as standard lol, it provided endless hours of fun... not least because the lack of ground clearance used to scare the c**p out of grannies at bus stops in Charlotte Square every time i went there :twisted: :)

My all time favourite though was the Kawasaki GPX750 (In the US it was a Ninja, but not the GPz version most commonly known there) that i spent 6 years dispatching... it was the last bike that i consider ever having truly owned in that it was that last i ever felt "at one with", mostly because dispatching pretty much killed off my passion for motorcycling.

That, and in middle age, my eye sight started to go and i didn't/don't feel anything like safe with the loss of peripheral vision that wearing spectacles results in.

Oh so many memories of the GPX, i'll upload a pic somewhere and post a link here if i remember... i didn't do MPH or rev x1000 on that bike... i did Warp Factor! Warp Factor 7 on the tacho in top gear equalled 70MPH! I had an indicated 165MPH two up on the speedo on the M9 in Scotland on January 2nd 1990 but don't tell the cops.. i had to whip Scottie to get there but in true style he came through! LOL :D


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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:11 pm 
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Err, um, I used to own one of these. I could blow the pants off of anyone who walked slowly.


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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:36 pm 
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Acadia wrote:
Err, um, I used to own one of these. I could blow the pants off of anyone who walked slowly.

LOL! I hear ya! :) Actually I've thought about getting a scooter for bee-bopping around but don't want to leave it out over winters and also don't want to pay for storage to keep it in the winter.

Hey Acadia, my 1100 cc Shadow could do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds. Want to get them again and race? ;) :mrgreen:

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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:16 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Hey Acadia, my 1100 cc Shadow could do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds. Want to get them again and race? ;) :mrgreen:

Well, its like this, that would not work. My Vespa only had a top speed of 45, give me half an hour and I might be able to actually reach it.
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 Post Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:54 pm 
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Acadia wrote:
jaylach wrote:
Hey Acadia, my 1100 cc Shadow could do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds. Want to get them again and race? ;) :mrgreen:

Well, its like this, that would not work. My Vespa only had a top speed of 45, give me half an hour and I might be able to actually reach it.
Acadia

I hear ya! ;) Still, if it wasn't for winter storage, I'd consider getting a scooter.

BTW, as much as I hate doing so... back on topic... ;) In an earlier post I stated that an actual quantum computer did not yet exist but, apparently, was wrong. It may not yet work well but seems to be out there.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science ... pc-n135856
Still, at this time, it seems to be no faster than a conventional computer. Personally I think this is largely due to the simple fact that technology has not yet caught up with the concept. Will it ever catch up? I don't know but remember a time when the 4 TB limit on a hard drive was considered impossible to pass. I currently have 2 6 TB drives and could as easily have 10 TB drives. I really have no doubt that it will probably happen as to quantum.

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 Post Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:57 pm 
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Acadia wrote:
Err, um, I used to own one of these. I could blow the pants off of anyone who walked slowly.

Ah, a hairdryer ;)

Commonly known as such in the UK from the era of the Mods and Rockers in the 60's... Acadia, apparently being a Roger Daltrey lookalike I'm sure you remember those days well even if it is the other side of the pond ;)

Vespa's, Lambretta's = look and sound like a hairdryer.

:rofl2:


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 Post Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:27 pm 
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:rofl2: They could still get you from A to B faster than walking. :twisted:

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 Post Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:29 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
BTW, as much as I hate doing so... back on topic... ;) In an earlier post I stated that an actual quantum computer did not yet exist but, apparently, was wrong. It may not yet work well but seems to be out there.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science ... pc-n135856


Gosh, who IS this pushy guy insisting we get back on topic?? :rofl2:

I haven't watched the nbcnews article all the way through yet (i will) but watched enough to see that the BBC, on their UK website, has a very interesting article on how the best use of Quantum Computing may be through networked Quantum computers rather than one standalone Quantum PC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b ... t-solstice
I don't want to advocate piracy but a VPN may be required as BBC UK content isn't normally available outside the UK until BBC Worldwide are ready to release it outside the UK.

They demonstrate where an Oxford University Quantum Computer running at 1Qbit(?) can glow on a monitor and flash in morse code "C.L.I.C.K."... not exactly spectacular to watch but in terms of being able to do that, it is.
Circa 7 mins into the video.

Fwiw, in my opinion this is a race, the country that masters this first is going to have a huge advantage in everything we know today... I'm also somewhat concerned that the Chinese and North Koreans may be worlds ahead of us... the former and the speed of their rise as a super power, the latter and their speed for developing nuclear weapons and missiles, isn't happening by accident... computing power akin to Quantum could explain both.

<Edit>
This relatively new trend by media organisations not to date stamp their web pages/articles is really beginning to annoy me!! There is no indication on the nbcnews website to say when that page/article was published... best indication i can see so far is June 2017? :evil:

<Edit 2>
Just found the date stamp, neither at the top or bottom, June 19 2014... surely that can't be right, or is it??


Last edited by Doddie on Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:33 pm 
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JoanA wrote:
:rofl2: They could still get you from A to B faster than walking. :twisted:

True, but the ton-up boys would still get their first, their hair might not be as pretty though! :lol:


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