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arxiv: 2602.07589 · v2 · submitted 2026-02-07 · 💻 cs.SE · cs.CY· cs.ET· quant-ph

A Course on the Introduction to Quantum Software Engineering: Experience Report

Andriy Miranskyy This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-16 06:15 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.SE cs.CYcs.ETquant-ph
keywords quantum software engineeringcourse designquantum computing educationsoftware engineering curriculumexperience reportexecutable artifactsprobabilistic systemseducational assessment
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The pith

A course design lets students with almost no quantum background handle software engineering tasks like testing and noise management in quantum programs once they build executable examples first.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper describes the creation and first run of a course that teaches quantum computing through a software engineering viewpoint rather than pure algorithms or frameworks. It focuses on practical skills such as creating testable code, managing probabilistic outputs, handling noise, and dealing with changing tools. Students without prior quantum exposure succeeded once they worked directly with runnable quantum information and algorithm artifacts instead of abstract theory alone. The report supplies a modular structure and mixed-level assessment approach that educators can adapt for similar emerging topics.

Core claim

Once students establish a working grasp of quantum information and algorithms through executable programs, they can productively address software engineering issues including testing strategies, abstraction choices, and trade-offs imposed by probabilistic results and hardware noise.

What carries the argument

Executable artifacts that embed quantum information and algorithm concepts, allowing empirical reasoning about probabilistic behavior and toolchain limitations.

If this is right

  • A modular course layout supports teaching mixed undergraduate and graduate cohorts without separate tracks.
  • Assessment through direct inspection of student code and anonymous feedback provides a practical way to evaluate progress across experience levels.
  • Emphasis on executable artifacts rather than lectures transfers to curricula for other non-classical computing paradigms.
  • Attention to evolving toolchains and probabilistic trade-offs prepares students for real quantum software maintenance tasks.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • Similar foundational modules could shorten the ramp-up time for professional software engineers moving into quantum tool use.
  • Longer-term tracking of whether students retain testing habits when moving to larger quantum projects would strengthen the design.
  • Industry partners could supply current toolchain examples to keep the noise and abstraction discussions current across offerings.

Load-bearing premise

Observations and feedback from one initial course offering, without controlled comparisons or tracking over time, will generalize to other instructors and student groups.

What would settle it

A second offering at a different institution in which students still struggle to produce working tests or reason about noise effects after completing the same foundational executable modules.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2602.07589 by Andriy Miranskyy.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: High-level structure of the course. The sequence first builds foun [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p013_1.png] view at source ↗
read the original abstract

Quantum computing is increasingly practiced through programming, yet most educational offerings emphasize algorithmic or framework-level use rather than software engineering concerns such as testing, abstraction, tooling, and lifecycle management. This paper reports on the design and first offering of a cross-listed undergraduate--graduate course that frames quantum computing through a software engineering lens, focusing on early-stage competence relevant to software engineering practice. The course integrates foundational quantum concepts with software engineering perspectives, emphasizing executable artifacts, empirical reasoning, and trade-offs arising from probabilistic behaviour, noise, and evolving toolchains. Evidence is drawn from instructor observations, supplemented by anonymous student feedback, a background survey, and inspection of student work. Despite minimal prior exposure to quantum computing, students were able to engage productively with quantum software engineering topics once a foundational understanding of quantum information and quantum algorithms, expressed through executable artifacts, was established. This experience report contributes a modular course design, a scalable assessment model for mixed academic levels, and transferable lessons for software engineering educators developing quantum computing curricula.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

0 major / 3 minor

Summary. The manuscript is an experience report on the design and first offering of a cross-listed undergraduate-graduate course on Introduction to Quantum Software Engineering. It frames quantum computing through a software engineering lens, integrating foundational quantum information and algorithms with SE concerns such as testing, abstraction, tooling, and lifecycle management. The course emphasizes executable artifacts, empirical reasoning, and trade-offs from probabilistic behavior and noise. Evidence consists of instructor observations, anonymous student feedback, a background survey, and inspection of student work. The central claim is that students with minimal prior quantum computing exposure were able to engage productively with quantum software engineering topics once foundational understanding was established through executable artifacts. The report contributes a modular course design, a scalable assessment model for mixed academic levels, and transferable lessons for educators.

Significance. If the reported outcomes hold, the paper supplies a concrete, modular course design and assessment approach for the emerging intersection of quantum computing and software engineering education. It directly addresses the gap where most quantum offerings focus on algorithms or frameworks rather than SE practices, and it credits the use of executable artifacts and empirical approaches as enabling productive student engagement despite limited prior exposure. This provides transferable guidance for curriculum developers in a field where such experience reports remain scarce.

minor comments (3)
  1. [§3] §3 (Course Design): the description of the modular structure would benefit from an explicit mapping of modules to undergraduate vs. graduate expectations and how the scalable assessment model differentiates between the two levels.
  2. [§4] §4 (Outcomes): while qualitative evidence from feedback and artifacts is appropriate for an experience report, adding one or two concrete examples of student artifacts (e.g., a testing scenario or abstraction choice) would make the claim of productive engagement more tangible without requiring quantitative metrics.
  3. [Abstract and §5] Abstract and §5: the phrasing 'transferable lessons' is slightly overstated given the single-offering scope; a minor rewording to 'lessons that may transfer' would better align with the descriptive nature of the evidence.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

0 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the positive summary of our experience report, the recognition of its significance for quantum software engineering education, and the recommendation for minor revision. No specific major comments were provided in the report, so we interpret the minor revision request as an opportunity to improve clarity, presentation, and any minor issues in the manuscript before resubmission.

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity identified

full rationale

The paper is a purely descriptive experience report on a single course offering. It presents no derivations, equations, quantitative predictions, or fitted parameters. All claims rest directly on instructor observations, anonymous feedback, background surveys, and inspection of student artifacts from that offering, without any reduction to self-definitional inputs, self-citation chains, or renamed known results. The central statement about student engagement is an empirical description of observed outcomes in one instance and does not rely on load-bearing self-referential logic.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

The report rests on the domain assumption that qualitative feedback and direct observation suffice to evaluate educational effectiveness; no free parameters, invented entities, or additional axioms are introduced beyond standard educational evaluation practices.

axioms (1)
  • domain assumption Instructor observations and anonymous student feedback accurately capture learning outcomes and engagement
    Evidence section relies on these sources without independent verification or quantitative validation.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5472 in / 1201 out tokens · 30405 ms · 2026-05-16T06:15:01.985426+00:00 · methodology

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Reference graph

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