Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
The fifth annual Wheeler lecture was given at the Computer Laboratory on Wednesday 25th May, 2016. The speaker was Andrew Herbert who gave an overview of virtualisation techniques in operating systems. The lecture was preceded by a series of ‘minute madness’ talks on current research themes.
Computer Laboratory folklore attributes the theory that “any problem in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection” to David Wheeler and indeed the theory can be seen at work in Wheeler’s initial orders and library subroutine system for EDSAC. In computer operating systems indirection is normally associated with some form of “virtualisation”. With roots in early operating system designs of the 1960s, virtualisation has become a key element of modern operating systems structure, especially in cloud computing. The lecture will explore the origins and evolution of virtualisation and the impact on modern computer hardware and operating systems architecture.
The fifth annual Wheeler lecture was given at the Computer Laboratory on Wednesday 25th May, 2016. The speaker was Andrew Herbert who gave an overview of virtualisation techniques in operating systems. The lecture was preceded by a series of ‘minute madness’ talks on current research themes.
Computer Laboratory folklore attributes the theory that “any problem in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection” to David Wheeler and indeed the theory can be seen at work in Wheeler’s initial orders and library subroutine system for EDSAC. In computer operating systems indirection is normally associated with some form of “virtualisation”. With roots in early operating system designs of the 1960s, virtualisation has become a key element of modern operating systems structure, especially in cloud computing. The lecture will explore the origins and evolution of virtualisation and the impact on modern computer hardware and operating systems architecture.
