A virtual machine emulator for performance evaluation

The Seventh Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, held in December 1979, continues an excellent tradition. Part of that tradition includes the publication of some of the best papers in a subsequent issue of the Communications of the ACM. The papers from the Seventh SOSP are included here, and give a good indication of the quality of the program from which they were selected. The symposium was excellently organized by the General Chairperson, Michael Schroeder, and his assistants. The quality of the program is evidence of the unusually competent performance of the program committee under the direction of Anita Jones. Her efforts materially reduced the difficulties of preparing this special issue of Communications. The remaining papers appear in the Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, and are recommended reading for all those interested in current research in operating systems. R. Stockton Gaines Editor, Operating Systems Department