Emulator

:This article is about emulation in computer science. See Emulation (disambiguation) for other meanings.

Related Topics:
Computer science - Emulation (disambiguation)

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A software emulator allows computer programs to run on a platform (computer architecture and/or operating system) other than the one for which they were originally written. Unlike with a simulation, an emulation does not attempt to precisely model the state of the device being emulated; it only attempts to reproduce its behavior.

Related Topics:
Computer program - Computer architecture - Operating system - Simulation

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A popular use of emulators is to mimic the experience of running arcade games or console games on Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Emulating these on modern desktop computers is usually less cumbersome than relying on the original machines. However, software licensing issues may require emulator authors to write original software that duplicates the functionality of the original computer's bootstrap ROM and BIOS, often through high-level emulation.

Related Topics:
Arcade game - Console game - Linux - Mac OS X - Microsoft Windows - Bootstrap - ROM - BIOS - High-level emulation

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In a technical sense, the Church-Turing thesis implies that any operating environment can be emulated within any other. In practice, it can be quite difficult, particularly when the exact behaviour of the system to be emulated is not documented and has to be deduced through reverse engineering. It also says nothing about timing constraints; if the emulator does not perform as quickly as the original hardware, the emulated software may run much more slowly than it would have on the original hardware.

Related Topics:
Church-Turing thesis - Reverse engineering

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