MOSS -- A Mini Operating System Simulator
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This talk introduces MOSS, a Java operating system simulator.

Operating system programming is often perceived as being `hard'.   There
are likely three main reasons why this is  the case.  Firstly, operating
systems are generally complex,  in terms of data-structures,  processes,
and the algorithms that  operate on those.   The second deterrent is the
low-level  nature of the code itself -- typically C with some  assembler
component.   Lastly, putting aside  aspects of programming, the  general
development of an operating system is `hard' -- it is time-consuming and
not particularly error tolerant.

The  primary  aim of  MOSS  is  to  make  operating  system  programming
`accessible' (or, at the very least, `easier').   The general  structure
of MOSS follows that  of a UNIX system,  providing an approximate  POSIX
interface to  `user applications'.   Writing the system in  Java largely
removes issues  associated with  low-level code  and  system development
-- Java is a comparatively `friendly' language, and the JVM/SDK provides
an efficient development environment.