Hacker News Reader

Comment by arcticbull | Hacker News Reader

I saw that, but... could they have optimized their classical code? Was it just a garbage batch script running single-threaded on a single-CPU machine backed by a MySQL SELECT * FROM query? Frequently these types of sweeping statements fall down with the slightest breeze.

View on HN

If they had resources to throw at a quantum computer they have probably been throwing resources at trying to optimize for a while now and I'd assume lots of people have scratched their head trying to improve it on their own and get a promotion / applause / bonus.

It's either a problem that is hard to optimize or people lack the skills... though if they've managed to migrate to a quantum computer they probably have the skills necessary.

1500x is a impressive speedup (1500 min to 2 min)

Also - MYSQL SELECT is a I/O problem, bash scripts usually are not CPU problems... not the kind of things a quantum computer would even apply...

I cannot imagine that Save-on-foods IT has a culture of excellence. I'd love to be mistaken, but I doubt I am.

It's a very mediocre grocery store. I'm glad I don't see ads anymore because their marketing is always terrible. Their mascot is some guy named Darryl. Ugh I don't care for SOF. Their produce sucks too.

I feel like you’re asking whether the model T can be fitted or at least compared with a car with a turbo. From the Dwave machine I’ve read about, its more the algorithm must be appropriate (analogous to) in a fundamental way to the quantum system annealed for the computation.

He is saying that. If the original algorithm was badly coded and they ran the least optimised variant ignoring all updates, then the QC version may indeed have been faster, but it depends: was it tuned to a specific problem, and is there a better than model-T classical computing algorithm for the same specific problem.

I'm genetically minded to be skeptical of QC. The question isn't outrageous, even for a believer.

The follow-on question is therefore, are they going to save more time in the long run by writing poorly optimised queries for a particular quantum hardware stack (that we assume as being easier/faster to write), rather than writing highly optimised queries on classical hardware.

Writing a garbage SQL query and getting it back faster might be worth it over optimising it - especially if the questions aren't regularly repeated.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com