Description

While the simulation of digital computers is an important and widely employed technique, there are no current, comprehensive books on the subject. This book aims to correct this lapse, by providing an exploration of the various applications these simulations are used for, as well as the techniques involved in these simulations.Applications of the simulation of digital computers are presented in the areas of research and development, education, preservation of historical artefacts, IT operations, software development, development of new systems, and recreation.Important concepts are discussed, such as the difference between emulation and simulation, the use for accurate timing, simulation at the clock cycle level, parallelism in simulations, the simulation of I/O devices, etc.Techniques discussed are interpretation, dynamic code translation, static code translation, microcoding, and FPGA-based synthesis.Each of these techniques is illustrated with detailed descriptions by expert co-authors.