Qiskit SDK v1.2 Released with Notable Upcoming Changes Ahead
The Latest version of the popular quantum programming language has just dropped. Version 1.2 of Qiskit has just been released.
IBM Quantum has announced that its Qiskit software development kit will soon drop support for Python 3.8, citing the programming language’s upcoming end-of-life in October. The change will take effect with the release of Qiskit v1.3, which will require at least Python 3.9.
This update is part of a broader effort to optimize the performance of quantum computing circuits. In the next minor release, the default optimization level for the transpile function will increase from 1 to 2, promising better results for most users. The Qiskit team, which includes contributors like Abdalla Elhendawy, Abigail J. Cross, and Kaelyn Ferris, is working to deliver more efficient and effective quantum computing tools.
IBM Quantum’s platform provides access to quantum computers, software, and services, enabling researchers and developers to explore the potential of quantum technology. With its Qiskit SDK, IBM aims to make quantum computing more accessible and user-friendly.
Today, we’re excited to announce the release of Qiskit SDK v1.2! The latest minor version release includes a number of important new features and improvements, all aimed at boosting the Qiskit SDK’s industry-leading performance and functionality.
Since transitioning to the v1.x era with the release of its first major version earlier this year, we have been laser-focused on making the Qiskit SDK the most powerful, high-performant quantum SDK in the world. Our goal is to ensure that researchers and developers can use Qiskit as a high-performance tool for efficiently running utility-scale workloads. That focus continues with the new v1.2 release, which brings significant enhancements to the performance and overall quality of the Qiskit transpiler.
Qiskit SDK v1.2
Here’s a quick overview of the biggest takeaways from this article:
First, before we dig into the key changes and feature improvements introduced with the latest release, it is important to note that v1.2 will be the last Qiskit SDK release that supports Python 3.8. Once Qiskit v1.3 arrives later this year, the minimum required Python version will by Python 3.9.
With the Qiskit SDK v1.2 release, all circuit infrastructure — e.g., gates, operations, etc. — has been “oxidized,” or moved to Rust, enabling speedups in circuit construction and manipulation. Additionally, because of this change, much of the synthesis library now constructs circuits in Rust, producing significant speedups when synthesizing operations such as Cliffords, permutations, or linear functions.
The quality of transpiled circuits has also been improved through the implementation of a unitary peephole optimization as well as a dense layout in Sabre trials.
Added a new quality of life improvement when importing the
generate_preset_pass_manager()function.
Python 3.8 End-of-Life
The current release (v1.2) will be the last one to support Python 3.8. With Python 3.8 reaching its end-of-life in October, the minimum supported version of Python will be upgraded to Python 3.9 in Qiskit v1.3.
Changes to Default Optimization Level
In Qiskit v1.3, the default optimization level for the transpile() function will change from 1 to 2. This change is expected to provide a better trade-off between transpilation runtime and quality of the transpiled circuits, given recent performance improvements in the transpiler passes.
Other Notable Mentions
The article also mentions that users can open GitHub issues to request features or report bugs, and that they can follow upcoming Qiskit SDK milestones to stay informed about future releases.
Contributors and Authors
A long list of contributors is acknowledged for their work on this release. The blog post was written by Kaelyn Ferris with contributions from several others.
Overall, this article provides important information for users of the Qiskit SDK, highlighting key changes and upgrades coming in v1.3.
More information
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