Virtual Machines

Foreword

I’ve been a virtual machine addict for precisely as long as I’ve worked with computers. My first real job, which led to my first nontrival computer program, was to implement a virtual machine for a high-level programming language. There seemed to be something magical about the ability for a computer to imitate another computer, or my idea of what a computer ought to be.

Now almost 20 years later, less starry-eyed and more responsible, I am concerned that my work has utility, making it faster or easier to get something done than it would be otherwise. But lucky for me, virtual machines have proven ideally suited to the needs of the computing industry, where the appreciation of the virtual machine has expanded dramatically. It’s no longer ...