Quantum Computers

There really isn't anything magical about them, in fact it's just a new twist on a old idea. Quantum computers more or less can just be imagined as hyper analog computers. One thing that must be clarified is they really aren't computers so much as a type of arithmetic processing unit. The "computer" part of the processor would just be a conventional digital processor with a quantum arithmetic unit. Analog computers store data in parallel and process that data in parallel. Instead of digital memory just imagine a wave signal that is composed of multiple data streams in different frequency bands. An analog arithmetic operation doesn't deal with signals separately; instead it applies a function that transforms the wave uniformly with the result that the operation is performed on all data sets. So instead of adding 10 sets of numbers separately the operation adds all sets of numbers simultaneously. Quantum computers allow multiple logical and arithmetic operations to be combined into a single operational function. The amount of time it takes to apply any operation, be it simple or vastly complex, is the same. Imagine a mathematical calculation so complex that it would take a computer years to complete. A quantum unit can perform the same operation virtually instantaneously. Data isn't processed so much as it is transformed. The implementations are quite complex and there are multiple implementations but this is the general idea. Now you understand what the hype is about.