As quantum computing continues to evolve, ensuring software reliability has become a critical challenge. Our latest article explores key aspects of quantum software testing, from bug patterns and testing methodologies to quantum software deployment and maintenance.
Author: Rajiv Chopra
Quantum Software Testing
Quantum software testing is the process of executing a quantum program to find faults. This ensures that the quantum software is correct, reliable and performs well.
Testing Analysis
The testing analysis includes three things:
- Robustness Analysis
- Entanglement Analysis
- Coverage Criteria, where: Coverage criterion = Gates (total) – Gates (infeasible)
Mutation testing (Kumar et. al) proposes to identify equivalent mutants to ensure the quality of future quantum software.
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Deployment: Quantum software deployment is to be done in the intended environment. This process includes supporting tasks like architectural assessment, evolution and management.
Maintenance: Quantum software maintenance aims to maintain the quantum system’s scalability, maintainability, reusability, performance and security.
Reuse: Quantum software reuse helps in defining crucial quantum qubits and circuits that can be implemented for different quantum software.
Proposed Methodologies
Some of the proposed methodologies include:
- Quantum Universal Modeling Language (QUML): The nature of quantum computing, internal implementation and information handling are some of the foundations for QUML.
- Generic Model Languages: Model-based engineering language is also proposed in the literature to cater to important concepts of quantum software designs like quantum variables, states and operations. So, the need is for a new quantum-based modeling language Domain Specific Language (DSL).
- Quantum Modeling Tools: Several quantum modeling tools like Petri Nets, temporal logics, quantum4BPMN and SysML also exist.
- Quantum Programming Languages: Several quantum programming languages like Quipper, QASM, Open QASM, Qiskit, Q#, Cirq, ProjectQ and so on also exist.
Challenges in Quantum Software Testing
Even quantum software testing is challenging. Designing test plans is a critical part of test planning. Some test plans are given below. It shows quantum software testing methods and plans.
Designing Test Plans
- Test Design Description
- Test Case Description
- Test Reports and logs
- Qubits Measurements
Bug Patterns in Quantum Software
Bug patterns are erroneous code idioms or improper coding techniques that have repeatedly proven to fail due to an inaccurate understanding of a programming language’s capabilities.
Understanding the behaviour of faults in quantum programs is critical for debugging and testing quantum software.
Bug Types and Patterns
Two things need to be observed:
- Bug Types and Patterns: Identify various bug categories that are unique to quantum software. These bug categories include:
- Incorrect quantum initial values.
- Inaccurate operations and transformations.
- Composition of operations using iteration, recursion and mirroring.
- Incorrect classical input parameters.
- Wrong deallocation of qubits.
- Various bug patterns in quantum programming languages like Qiskit have been found and categorised.
- Bug Benchmarks: Qbugs is a database of reproducible flaws in quantum algorithms that supports controlled experiments for debugging and testing of quantum software.
- Qbugs offers some preliminary suggestions for developing a benchmark as the test scenarios for simulating glitchy behaviour.
- Bugs4Q facilitates downloading and running test cases for quantum software testing and gathers repeatable problems in Qiskit applications. Almost all of the Qiskit bugs that are currently active are gathered and updated in real time by Bugs4Q.
Assertion-Based Methodology
Huang and Martonosi’s assertion-based methodology expands Scaffold, a currently used quantum programming language.
With the aid of these, programmers may determine if a quantum program state corresponds to its predicted value in a classical, superposition or entangled kind of state. Based on this, potential claims in quantum software were divided into three categories:
- Classical Assertion
- Superposition Assertion
- Entanglement Assertion
The basic drawback of this methodology is that each measurement made while debugging requires stopping the program.
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