A Quantum Algorithm for Software Engineering Search

Quantum computers can solve a few basic problems, such as factoring an integer and searching a database, much faster than classical computers. However, the complexity of software artifacts, and the types of questions software engineers ask about them, pose significant challenges for applying existing quantum approaches to software engineering search (SES) problems. This paper first describes a new quantum search algorithm, IDGS-FA, whose design is motivated by the characteristics of SES problems. Next, it describes how to apply quantum searching to three SES problems: FSM property checking, software test generation, and library-based software synthesis. Next, the paper gives the main ideas in QSAT, a novel toolkit supporting efficient simulation of the algorithms and applications discussed. Finally, it concludes with a substantial simulation-based study of IDGS-FA, showing that it improves both the reliability and speed of other approaches.