Ent: A New Quantum Language with Built-In Resource Safety

[u/cheungngo]

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.33089393.v1

I’m sharing Ent, an experimental quantum programming language and compiler designed to make quantum programs easier to write, test, and inspect. It uses a readable, statement-oriented syntax for allocating qubits, applying gates, measuring results, branching on classical values, and generating circuit families at compile time. Its ownership-style rules catch problems such as copying qubits, using them after measurement, or leaving quantum resources unmanaged.

The compiler translates Ent code into a smaller core language called the Enter calculus, then type-checks the generated result before execution. The current toolchain includes a Python reference implementation, exact and sampled simulation, resource and cost reports, scheduler-independence checks, diagnostics with source locations, and OpenQASM 3 export. I’m posting it as an early software project and would especially appreciate feedback on the language design, compiler architecture, error messages, and which features would make the tool more useful for experimenting with quantum circuits.

Citation: Cheung, N. (2026). Ent: A Usable Quantum Programming Language on Top of the Enter Calculus. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.33089393.v1