Quantum Software Bugs: A Large-Scale Empirical Study
Analysis
Key Takeaways
- •Full-stack libraries and compilers are most defect-prone.
- •Quantum-specific bugs disproportionately degrade performance, maintainability, and reliability.
- •Automated testing is associated with a significant reduction in defect incidence.
- •Defect densities peaked between 2017 and 2021, indicating ecosystem maturation.
“Full-stack libraries and compilers are the most defect-prone categories due to circuit, gate, and transpilation-related issues, while simulators are mainly affected by measurement and noise modeling errors.”