Traditional Computing
Alice Flarend, Bob Hilborn · 2022
Abstract Alice and Bob explain the difference between classical (traditional) computing and quantum computing, deploying a gentle introduction to classical binary digits (bits) beginning with a brief history of the development of quantum mechanics and computer architecture. The abstract backbone of classical computing is logic gates, which represent changes to input bits under specific rules. These rules, governed by Boolean, logic can be summarized in truth tables, giving the output values for specific input values. The most common classical gates—NOT, AND, NAND, and XOR gates—are introduced. The vocabulary of classical computing provides the basis for understanding quantum computing.