Srinjoy Ganguly is the author of Quantum Computing with Silq Programming, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Srinjoy: My specialist tech areas are Quantum Computing, Quantum Machine Learning, Quantum Image Processing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence. Recently I have found new interest in diagrammatic reasoning, ZX calculus for Quantum Computing, Quantum Natural Language Processing, AR and VR.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Srinjoy: I always had a dream of becoming a technical author from my childhood and thought a PhD will be required to become an author. My dream of becoming an author came true because of Packt before even doing a PhD! My journey with Packt started from April 2020, just 1 year ago, when I was contacted through email by one of the Packt’s Business Development Executive to technically review a title on Python Image Processing cookbook. After successful review of this book, I again got offered a book on Quantum Information Processing as a technical reviewer and I successfully completed this project as well. After reviewing 2 books, I was offered more titles for review and a single title to author and that is how I immediately seized the opportunity to become an author at Packt! I never imagined that I will be publishing my first book on April 30, 2021, just within a single year of becoming a TR with Packt!
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Srinjoy: Before writing the book on Quantum Computing with Silq Programming, I already had 4+ years of experience in Quantum Computing and 5+ years of experience in teaching technical topics to broad audience such as students and industry professionals, so, because of this the material for the book was already prepared with me. The only thing which I learned quickly is Silq language. I took 1 week to grasp the fundamentals of this programming language and started to author the book immediately with the immense help of my co-author Thomas Cambier.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Srinjoy: Yes, I did faced challenges. Since this was my very first title so organizing all the ready made study materials with me in a systematic and easy to flow manner was a bit difficult for me to do at first. I had to keep in mind always about the readers and their concerning questions. Packt editors and the TR helped me a lot during the writing process by reviewing my writing style and provided me hints to improve on certain areas of the chapters in the book.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Srinjoy: The primary technology which is discussed in my book is quantum computing with a high level quantum programming language – Silq. This language have a huge potential and scope to develop future quantum computing applications and software. This high level language Silq also provide compatibility with most of modern quantum hardware so developing applications using this becomes straight forward and simple.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Srinjoy: This book should be chosen over others because not only this book covers a new programming language for intuitive quantum programming but it also covers the mathematics and algorithms thinking in an condensed and easy to understand manner which is required in order to appreciate the concepts of quantum computing.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Srinjoy: The key takeaways from this book are – Firstly, Gaining an intuitive and simple understanding behind the mathematics of quantum computing. Second, understanding and implementing various quantum algorithms with ease and finally exploring the industry applications of quantum computing with a new high level quantum programming language.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Srinjoy: The top tip which I always provide to everyone who starts learning any new technology is – Do not skip the Math! Yes, every technology is successful because of mathematics and always have some basic background of mathematics ready with you so that you can take a deep dive into your desired technology without any hurdles. Another important aspect is to have a broad perspective about things, keep learning new skills continuously (even if it is paid! Yes, I did paid learning for a lot of things and I do not regret!) without any delays and try combining one technology with another! Maybe VR with Quantum!
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Srinjoy: I do not have any blog but I provide online training on cutting edge technologies such as quantum computing at my own EdTech firm – AdroitERA (AERA).
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Srinjoy: For quantum computing, the Swiss Quantum Hub (https://www.swissquantumhub.com/) blog is an excellent place to get yourself updated with the latest happenings in the quantum computing space.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Srinjoy: My journey to become a Packt author from being a TR has been very rewarding! I learnt a lot of new skills along the book writing process and learnt to gather, assimilate, present and communicate information and research in an user friendly style. I strongly recommend Packt for aspiring authors because not only it provides you excellent support for the writing process but it has a large community of authors from whom you can learn a lot.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Srinjoy: In Packt community, I am a member of Quantum Computing group, Artificial Intelligence group, PyTorch group, Machine Learning group, Deep Learning group, Azure group and Google Cloud platform group.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Srinjoy: I do not follow any specific tech journals. I follow LinkedIn a lot where I daily receive lot of technological updates posted by various individual and companies.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Srinjoy: Since much of the material for the book was already prepared with me beforehand, so I just worked on organizing the topics, noting them down in a sequential manner for the chapter formation and finally removed the irrelevant topics by prioritizing the main important topics
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Srinjoy: For aspiring authors, one writing tip which helped me a lot for the speedy completion of the book was – Prepare the materials beforehand always and it becomes a lot easy to organize them at a later stage. I was able to complete the whole 310 pages book within 3 months!
You can find Srinjoy’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
