Re: [soa-rm-ra] How to Refer to Various Uses of the word "machine"

["Jeffrey A Estefan" <Jeffrey.A.Estefan@jpl.nasa.gov>]

Hi Joe,

The potential confusion between our proposed use of the term "SOA virtual
machine" (or some variant) with the term "Java Virtual Machine (JVM)" was
certainly something that crossed my mind; however, I believe it's just an
artifact of the more recent popularity of Java whereas the term "virtual
machine" has been around for decades.

I think we can alleviate the problem by stating up front [in the RA text]
that our definition of virtual machine is abstract in nature and is
technology-neutral, hence, it should not be confused with specific
technologies such as the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that provides the
runtime environment for the Java programming language or other
technology-specific "VM" variants.

Incidentally, the term "abstract machine" also came to mind, but the
Computer Science purists out there often associate abstract machine with
abstract computers and Turing machines.

 - Jeff