Chapter 8: Programming with Qiskit Terra

Terra is one of the four natural classical elements. It represents earth. Qiskit is packaged to contain all four elements: Terra, Aer, Ignis, and Aqua (earth, air, fire, and water, respectively), which together make up the universe of quantum programming.

Terra represents the link between the core hardware of a quantum system and the other elements, which transcend upward through the application stack. It is, therefore, the foundation used for creating quantum circuits, as well as generating and scheduling pulses from the circuits onto the hardware devices. Other features, such as optimizers and transpilers, are used to ensure the circuits are optimal to reduce coherence and improve performance. In this chapter, we will explore all the key features available in Terra to help you create your own circuits, optimizers, and pulse schedules.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Understanding quantum circuits
• Generating...