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Release notes for Quantum Development Kit (QDK) and Azure Quantum - 2021

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This article outlines updates to the Quantum Development Kit (QDK) and the Azure Quantum service in 2021.

QDK version 0.21.2112.180703

2021-12-14

  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.11.0: Job result histograms are left-aligned (not centered) in console output.

QDK version 0.21.2111.177148

2021-11-23

  • Added a Q# formatter to update deprecated Q# syntax and basic formatting for Q# projects with QDK version 0.21.2111.177148 and up:
    • You need to update the QDK version in the <Project> tag of your .csproj file to use the Q# formatter.
    • You can use the Q# formatter via Visual Studio by clicking on the Edit -> Advanced -> Format Document menu item. Via Visual Studio Code, you can format your code by right-clicking on the code you want to format, and clicking on the Format Document menu item.
    • Added a build target, UpdateSyntax, for updating deprecated syntax in a Q# project. This target can be used with dotnet msbuild -t:UpdateSyntax at a command prompt.
    • Added Code Actions to automatically update deprecated syntax.
  • Added support for submitting problems to a subset of Microsoft targets in protobuf binary format. You can use it for encoding larger problems by reducing the payload sizes, and improve upload and processing speeds.
  • Breaking change: The deserialize class method of the Problem class has a parameter name change from problem_as_json to input_problem to support deserialization of protobuf.

QDK version 0.20.2110.171573

2021-10-26

  • IQ# kernel %azure.connect command no longer sets "West US" as the default location. Location parameter is now required.
  • The azure-quantum package now supports asynchronous I/O via the new azure.quantum.aio package.
  • Fixed an issue: Qiskit jobs fetched with AzureQuantumProvider.get_job() can now use job.result() without running into a KeyError.
  • Fixed an issue that causes azure.quantum.cirq and azure.quantum.qiskit to not be recognized by Pylance. The azure.quantum.plugins package is deprecated.
  • Fixed an issue in IQ# in which job execution would fail if any operation defined in an external file wasn't supported on the given target.
  • Fixed an issue in the Visual Studio extension that caused incorrect indentation in some cases when a closing bracket was typed.
  • Refactored the Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) runtime DLLs to use static VC runtime, removing dependency on msvcrt.dll and Visual Studio installation.
  • Refactored QIR Runtime to use intptr_t for Qubit ID types consistently.
  • Updated Azure CLI Extensions to version 0.9.0.

QDK version 0.19.2109.165653

2021-09-28

  • Added support for submitting Cirq and Qiskit circuits to IonQ and Quantinuum.
  • Conda packages have been moved from the quantum-engineering channel to the microsoft channel. When using conda to install the Quantum Development Kit for Q# notebook or Q# + Python usage, the -c quantum-engineering argument to conda should be changed to -c microsoft, and the channels section of environment.yml files should be updated. See the getting started guide for the full install command using the new packages.
  • You can formulate PUBO and Ising problems using squared linear terms natively on the PA and SSMC solvers.
  • Fixed issue with memory management and improved reliability for QIR generation: 1152 and 1086.
  • Fixed issue related to Workspace.get_targets(). It now returns all available targets in the subscription, even those that don't have client-side support.
  • Fixed issues with Q# compiler's diagnostics appearing in incorrect places: 1133 and 1172.
  • Breaking change: The order of arguments in ApplyIf, ApplyIfA, ApplyIfC, and ApplyIfCA has been changed so it is consistent with related operations such as ApplyIfElseB and Q# API design principles.
  • Problem.serialize() of the azure.quantum.optimization Python package now serializes the name of the Optimization Problem in a new optional metadata field, so you don't have to specify it again when deserializing the problem as detailed in this issue.
  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.8.0: Users receive recommendations, at most once a day, to update the az quantum extension if the version installed is out-of-date.

QDK version 0.18.2109.162713

2021-09-10

  • Fixes an issue that sometimes resulted in kernel crash in online Quantum Katas. No customer impact since online Katas stayed with the older QDK version.

QDK version 0.18.2108.160999

2021-09-01

QDK version 0.18.2108.160310

2021-08-31

  • Alternative operation in @SubstitutableOnTarget doesn't need to be explicitly referred to anymore in Microsoft.Quantum.AutoSubstitution NuGet package.
  • New Workspace.get_targets() method in azure-quantum package that returns a list of all available targets. Can filter by Provider ID or Target ID.
  • An issue was resolved that prevented using IQ# or the qsharp Python package with Python 3.8 or 3.9 when using conda.
  • Fixed an issue where nested Conditional blocks may be incorrectly lifted.
  • Resolved an issue where some code failed to compile previously for Quantinuum target.
  • Added an option where QIR generation isn't target specific.
  • Fixed a concurrency bug that could cause intermittent crashes if multiple simulator instances are run in the same process.
  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.7.0:
    • Provide compiler output to users if there was error for easier troubleshooting.
    • Fixed bug in which retrieving output from workspaces in a location different to another set as default failed.
    • Processing jobs that produce no output is allowed.

QDK version 0.18.2107.153439

2021-07-27

  • You can filter by job name, job status, and job creation time when listing jobs in azure-quantum.
  • Fixed regression in Code Actions because of incompatibility with protocol in VS 16.10.x versions.
  • Improved error message on IQ# %azure.* magic commands when no quantum computing targets are available.
  • azure-quantum Python package fixes an issue with MSAL Credentials on Windows and now requires minimum versions for all dependencies to mitigate other potential issues with older dependencies.
  • Fixed a bug in IQ# in which job execution would fail if any operation was defined that wasn't supported on the given target.
  • Fixed a bug in IQ# in which some programs targeting hardware that supports the Basic Measurement Feedback profile were incorrectly being reported as not supported by the Azure Quantum target.
  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.6.1:
    • Added command to request job cancellation: az quantum job cancel.
    • Fixed a bug in which job submissions in Azure Quantum that emit standard output were reported as failed, even if the job succeeded.
    • Enabled job submissions from a different directory using --project parameter.

Azure Quantum service update 2021-07-27

  • Parameter Free Population Annealing solver is now available through the Early Access plan in Azure Quantum. To sign up for early access, see Apply for Azure Quantum Early Access.
  • Terms banner in Review tab in Azure Quantum portal is hidden when only Microsoft provider is being added during workspace creation.

QDK version 0.18.2106.148911

2021-06-25

  • You can now configure how many solutions you want returned from a solver run.
  • A new NuGet package Microsoft.Quantum.AutoSubstitution, which when added to a Q# project, allows you to annotate operations with the SubstitutableOnTarget(AltOp, Sim) attribute. It then calls AltOp instead of the annotated operation, whenever it's executed using Sim.
  • Integration with Azure-Identity provides more mechanisms to authenticate with Azure.
  • The .NET Microsoft.Azure.Management.Quantum now returns the Restricted Access URL so you can know more/apply for a restricted access plan.
  • Preview support for noisy simulation in open systems and stabilizer representations qsharp-runtime#714. See here for documentation on preview simulators.
  • Using quantum-viz.js as the engine to render the output from the jupyter notebook %trace magic.

QDK version 0.17.2105.144881

2021-06-01

  • Reverted a change in the azure-quantum Python client that could create authentication issues for some users (refer to issues #66, #67).

QDK version 0.17.2105.143879

2021-05-26

  • Added a new function to the azure-quantum Python client to support the translation of binary optimization terms from npz to Azure Quantum. See full details in QDK Python.
  • Published QIR oracle generation sample. This program allows turning classical Q# functions on Boolean inputs into quantum implementations of those functions in terms of Q# operations at the level of QIR. This allows, for example, to implement quantum algorithms that are used by many quantum algorithms readily as classical functions.
  • Fixed a bug that prevents QIR generation from being enabled in the iqsharp-base Docker image. See details here.
  • Implemented new special functions, for example, factorial and log-gamma, in Microsoft.Quantum.Math (microsoft/QuantumLibraries#448). Thanks to @TheMagicNacho for the contribution (microsoft/QuantumLibraries#440)!
  • C# Client: Changed input data format type to "v2" for Quantum Computing.
  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.5.0: Adapted to 'az' tool version 2.23.0, adding user agent information on calls to Azure Quantum Service.

Azure Quantum service update 2021-05-26

  • Added PA (population annealing) and SSMC (substochastic Monte Carlo) solvers along with preview access via a specialized plan available to a subset of customers.
  • Added support for new regions: Japan East, Japan West, UK South, UK West
  • Set Provider in Failed state if provisioning fails. Previously it would be stuck in Launching/Updating state.
  • Added help button in portal to direct user to support forum.
  • Rendered provider cost in localized currency from Azure Marketplace.
  • Added feedback button in portal to gather user feedback.
  • Added quickstart guide in portal in overview blade.

QDK version 0.16.2105.140472

2021-05-10

  • Fixed dependency error in IQSharp on System.Text.Json when submitting jobs to Azure Quantum. See full details in issue iqsharp#435.
  • Resolved issue affecting joint measurements of multi-qubit states on some combinations of Pauli basis resulting in incorrect values. For details, refer to issue qsharp-runtime#680.

QDK version 0.16.2104.138035

2021-04-27

  • Improved Q# type inference based on the Hindley-Milner type inference algorithm.
  • Added support for NumPy types in coefficient definitions for problems in QIO azure-quantum Python package.
  • Updated control-plane swagger file to support restricted access plans.
  • Added new StreamingProblem class in QIO azure-quantum Python package. It supports the same interface for adding terms to a problem definition as the Problem class. However, once terms are added to the problem they are queued to be uploaded by a background thread and are not kept in memory for future reference.
  • Restored the packages size of Microsoft.Quantum.Sdk and Microsoft.Quantum.Compiler back to normal. (See related note in 0.15.2103.133969)
  • Improved compiler performance.
  • Released Azure CLI quantum extension version 0.4.0: Exposed URL for restricted access plans. Fixed regression on offerings commands dependent on Azure Marketplace APIs.

QDK version 0.15.2103.133969

2021-03-30

QDK version 0.15.2102.129448

2021-02-25

  • Improved IQ# debug user experience by adding a horizontal scrollbar to scroll both execution path and basis state visualizations.
  • New functions to represent the group product and group inverse on the single-qubit Clifford group, to quickly define common single-qubit Clifford operators, and to apply single-qubit Clifford operators as operations. For more information, see issue #409.
  • Addressing security issue in the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit for Visual Studio Code extension. For details, refer to CVE-2021-27082.
  • Released Az CLI quantum extension version 0.2.0: Added parameter '--provider-sku-list' to 'az quantum workspace create' to allow specification of Quantum providers. Added command group 'az quantum offerings' with 'list', 'accept-terms' and 'show-terms'.

QDK version 0.15.2102.128318

2021-02-12

  • Fix "'npm' is not recognized as an internal or external command" error during creation of Q# projects with Visual Studio Code extension. See issue #848.

QDK version 0.15.2101.126940

2021-01-29

  • Added project templates to Q# compiler for executables targeting IonQ and Quantinuum providers
  • Update IQ# kernel syntax highlighting to include changes to Q# syntax introduced in version 0.15.2101125897
  • Bugfix to support passing arrays as input arguments to Q# programs submitted to Azure Quantum via %azure.execute, see issue #401
  • Fix "Permission denied" error when using az in iqsharp-base Docker images, see issue #404
  • Released Az CLI quantum extension version 0.1.0: Provided command-line tool for workspace management and quantum computing job submission.

QDK version 0.15.2101125897

2021-01-26

  • Simplified qubit allocation, providing more convenient syntax for allocating qubits, see details in Q# language repository.
  • Created azure-quantum-python repository that includes azure-quantum, the Python client for submitting quantum-inspired optimization jobs to the Azure Quantum service, and qdk, including qdk.chemistry, a Python-based convenience layer for the Q# chemistry library that includes molecular visualization and functionality to generate input files for several chemistry packages such as NWChem, Psi4, and OpenMolcas.
  • Parentheses are now optional for operation and function types and if, elif, while, and until statements. Parentheses for for, use, and borrow statements have been deprecated.
  • Improved width estimates for optimal depth, see details.
  • Apply unitary operation provided as explicit matrix using ApplyUnitary (QuantumLibraries#391, external contribution by Dmytro Fedoriaka)
  • Fixed https://github.com/microsoft/iqsharp/issues/387 by mitigating performance impact on IQ# kernel startup.