  The theory of quantum computation is presented in a self contained way from a
computer science perspective. The basics of classical computation and quantum
mechanics is reviewed. The circuit model of quantum computation is presented in
detail. Throughout there is an emphasis on the physical as well as the abstract
aspects of computation and the interplay between them.
  This report is presented as a Master's thesis at the department of Computer
Science and Engineering at G{\"o}teborg University, G{\"o}teborg, Sweden.
  The text is part of a larger work that is planned to include chapters on
quantum algorithms, the quantum Turing machine model and abstract approaches to
quantum computation.
