Dynamic software visualization of quantum algorithms with rainbow boxes

International audienceQuantum computing has emerged recently as a new computational paradigm. It considers quantum bits (qubits) instead of classical bits. However, quantum algorithms are often very difficult to understand. In this paper, we propose a tool for quantum software visualization. It presents visually the state of multiple-qubits and its evolution at runtime during the execution of a quantum program. This tool allows a unique representation of a quantum state, contrary to the usual vector notation. We show how the problem of visualizing a quantum state can be reduced to a set visualization problem, and our tool uses rainbow boxes to visualize the resulting sets. We also present the application of the proposed tool to quantum teleportation, an algorithm of high importance in cryptography. Finally, we discuss the limit of this approach and its perspectives, in particular for teaching quantum computing