I want to try my hand at designing quantum algorithms to solve certain problems. I feel like I understand (for example) how Grover's algorithm and Shor's algorithm work, and I'm excited to apply the various "computing tricks" that aren't available in classical computing. Unfortunately, my knowledge of such tricks is limited to their application in the few famous algorithms, and I'm not at all sure how to legitimately apply them in general.
Are there any resources available that will quickly bring me up to speed?
Best Answer
Since you understand Grover's algorithm and Shor's algorithm, you're a lot closer to being up to speed than you might guess. Specifically, the field of quantum algorithms is fairly narrow, much more so than classical algorithms, so getting caught up is not as daunting. Aside from generalities like using quantum computers to simulate quantum systems, there are only three or four main types of quantum algorithms (at a broad level like "quantum Fourier sampling").
The right place to start is books like Mermin or Nielsen and Chuang, as in the other answers, but after that you'll have to move to papers. Stephen Jordan has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of about two hundred quantum algorithms papers in the Quantum Algorithms Zoo, organized by problem. Browsing through this list is a good way to get an overview of what's out there and choose some papers relevant to your interests.