Introduction to Classical and Quantum ComputingThomas Wong
Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing
by Thomas Wong · first published 2022
5mentions
3recommended by
4HN commenters
2022–2026first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% neutral
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…is the standard textbook for quantum computing. It has excellent background chapters on linear algebra and quantum mechanics, that will get you a lot of mileage. Another book that I would recommend is Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing by Thomas Wong. It's recent and has lots of examples, including lots of code, to show how to work with the math.
on “A tutorial quantum interpreter in 150 lines of Lisp” ↗Thanks for sharing this. I think there are a few books in this vein: intro to quantum algorithms, basically. I particularly liked Thomas Wong's “Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing”. I'm not so particularly interested in the math details, and I want my book to go further. I haven't found any (layman-friendly) text that breaks down the actual mechanisms of operation behind the qubit…
on “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)” ↗…there wasn't really a text that fit my needs. There are books that explain the math/CS theory at an appropriate level (I recommend Scott Aaronson's Quantum Computing Since Democritus and Thomas Wong's Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing), but nothing that deals with the hardware or the applications (both of which I am very interested in). So I did a lot of self-education and paper-reading, and wrote the book I wanted to read. It's called…
on “Show HN: Intro-level book about quantum computing theory/hardware/applications” ↗…projection matrices that add to the identity My book only covers very basic QM—not a full course by any means. For anyone interested in getting into quantum computing, I recommend Thomas G. Wong's book Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing which you can find here https://www.thomaswong.net/#textbook or Nielsen and Chuang which is a classic.
on “PHYS771 Lecture 9: Quantum (2007)” ↗One small related thread: Textbook: Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30097830 - Jan 2022 (2 comments)
on “Introduction to Classical and Quantum Computing [pdf]” ↗