Virtual execution environments (VEEs) are ubiquitous. Desktop computers typically come with several VEEs preinstalled, these include language runtimes  such as Microsoft's dotNet environment or Sun's Java virtual machine, or  system virtual  machine such as VMWare or Xen. Virtual environments provide benefits in terms of improved security, better resource management and portability. In the past few years the use of virtual environments has grown in areas such as embedded systems (e.g. cell phones, avionics) and parallel and distributed systems.

The goal of this course is to give students a better understanding of the fundamental issues involved in the design and implementation of virtual execution environments and expose them to some of the open research problems in the area.

 

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