Use this page as the short navigation map of the course.
For the full day-by-day teaching order, use [[Practical Quantum Information System]].
For source alignment with the two PDFs, use [[Source Reading Guide]]. For course links, references, simulators, and hardware pathways, use [[Resources]]. For a compact study surface, use [[Review Questions]]. For the runnable repo map, use [[Quantum Code Map]]. For the final project structure, use [[Final Capstone Workflow]].
```mermaid
flowchart TD
A["Amplitudes, interference, and single-qubit mechanics"] --> B["Tensor products, density matrices, and entanglement"]
B --> C["Communication, Bell, and cryptography"]
C --> D["Algorithms, query models, and complexity"]
D --> E["Hamiltonians, adiabatic methods, and noise"]
E --> F["Error correction, stabilizers, and capstone work"]
F --> G["Optional advanced extensions"]
```
## Main Path
Follow the main path in this order:
1. learn the concept from the note
2. read the matching source section from [[Source Reading Guide]]
3. answer the matching section in [[Review Questions]]
4. run the primary Qiskit lab
5. compare the same idea in Q#, CUDA-Q, QuTiP, or PennyLane when useful
6. compare ideal simulation, noisy simulation, and hardware if available
7. finish the homework by combining derivation and experiment analysis
## Reading Lanes
Use the two PDFs in different ways.
- `qclec.pdf`: formal lecture spine, derivations, algorithms, and proof sketches.
- *Quantum Computing since Democritus*: conceptual companion for complexity, interpretation, skepticism, and why the formalism matters.
- Concept notes: the teachable version that connects the source reading to labs and homework.
## Main Path Milestones
1. Understand amplitudes, interference, and the circuit model.
Notes: [[concepts/Extended Church-Turing Thesis]], [[concepts/Probability Theory and Quantum Mechanics]], [[concepts/Basic Rules of Quantum Mechanics]], [[concepts/Quantum Gates and Circuits]]
2. Understand multi-qubit structure, mixed states, and entanglement.
Notes: [[concepts/Separable vs. Entangled States]], [[concepts/Density Matrices and Partial Trace]], [[concepts/Pure vs. Mixed States]], [[concepts/Bloch Sphere and No-Cloning Theorem]], [[concepts/Quantum Money and Quantum Key Distribution]], [[concepts/Superdense Coding]], [[concepts/Quantum Teleportation]], [[concepts/GHZ States, Entanglement Swapping, and Monogamy]], [[concepts/Schmidt Decomposition]], [[concepts/Entanglement Entropy]]
3. Understand communication, Bell nonlocality, and randomness.
Notes: [[concepts/Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics]], [[concepts/Bell's Inequality and CHSH]], [[concepts/Nonlocal Games]], [[concepts/Einstein-Certified Randomness]]
4. Understand universal circuits, query complexity, and core algorithms.
Notes: [[concepts/Universal Gate Sets]], [[concepts/Quantum Query Complexity and Deutsch-Jozsa]], [[concepts/Bernstein-Vazirani and Simon's Algorithm]], [[concepts/RSA, Period Finding, and Shor's Algorithm]], [[concepts/Quantum Fourier Transform]], [[concepts/Grover's Algorithm]], [[concepts/Quantum Complexity Theory]]
5. Understand Hamiltonians, adiabatic ideas, and physical modeling.
Notes: [[concepts/Hamiltonians]], [[concepts/The Adiabatic Algorithm]]
6. Understand quantum error correction and the stabilizer formalism.
Notes: [[concepts/Quantum Error Correction]], [[concepts/Stabilizer Formalism]]
## Core Concept Sequence
Use this order when reviewing, teaching, or extending the notes:
- Pure vs. Mixed States
- Density Matrices and Partial Trace
- Separable vs. Entangled States
- Schmidt Decomposition
- Von Neumann Entropy and Entanglement Entropy
- Bell States, CHSH, and Nonlocal Games
- No-Cloning, Teleportation, Superdense Coding, and QKD
- QFT, Shor, and Grover
- Noise, Error Correction, and Stabilizers
## Companion Code Repo
The runnable course code should live in the companion repo [montekkundan/quantum-code](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code).
Use these repo layers the same way the LLM course uses `notebooks/`, `course_tools/`, and serious runtime files:
- [[Quantum Code Map]] for the lecture-side map of notes to runnable code
- [COURSE_MAP.md](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/blob/main/COURSE_MAP.md) for the lecture-to-code map
- [notebooks/](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/tree/main/notebooks) for live walkthroughs and per-concept labs
- [qcourse/](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/tree/main/qcourse) for tested concept-first helpers
- [tests/](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/tree/main/tests) for regression checks and scientific invariants
- [qsharp/](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/tree/main/qsharp) for selected Q# comparisons and resource-estimation exercises
- [[Final Capstone Workflow]] and [capstone/](https://github.com/montekkundan/quantum-code/tree/main/capstone) for final project expectations
The practical loop is note -> per-concept notebook -> helper module -> test. That loop is what keeps this from becoming a theory-only folder.
## Practical Tracks
Keep the course anchored in real tools:
- [IBM Quantum Learning and Qiskit](https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/learning/en) for the primary lab path
- [Microsoft Quantum and Azure Quantum](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/) for Q# and provider workflows
- [NVIDIA CUDA-Q](https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-q) for hybrid and accelerated simulation
- [QuTiP](https://qutip.org/) for Hamiltonians, density matrices, and open systems
- [PennyLane demos](https://pennylane.ai/qml/demonstrations) for variational and QML extensions
## Optional Advanced Extensions
Take the advanced track after the main path if you want the systems and research layer:
- noise models and channels
- error mitigation
- quantum optimization
- quantum machine learning
- hardware-specific implementation pathways for superconducting, trapped-ion, and neutral-atom platforms
- source-backed essays on quantum skepticism, BQP versus NP-complete problems, and the limits of extracting classical information from quantum states