Programming in the vector spaces of quantum datastructures

Quantum computation consists of manipulating objects governed by the law of quantum physics. This model of computation is thought to be very promising, with applications ranging over a large spectrum of domains. The standard paradigm for quantum programming is the low-level co-processor model of quantum circuits. Based on tedious low-level arrays of quantum bits, if this model is "enough" for the job, it does not permit much high-level reasoning. Even more problematic, it cannot account for physically realistic operations such as the quantum SWITCH. In this talk, we shall discuss the model, its limits, and possible extensions through the lens of data structure and type systems.