This paper represents a very interesting conundrum. The authors present the results of a study of the development of a Java Virtual Machine, in a LISP-derivative language, as a simulator. They place strong emphasis on the state machine presentation in the simulator. They go to great lengths to describe details of the simulator, how it works, and how they attained their results.

Overall, the paper is well written and well constructed. Seemingly, all aspects of the simulator are discussed, with a level of detail that seems appropriate. Anyone interested in this area would do well to read this paper.

Now, for the interesting problem: immediately after the abstract, the authors provide, as is customary, a list of keywords, categories, and subject descriptors. From my perusal of these, I glean that the authors are describing a paper that is quite deeply in the domain of software engineering (while other keywords also exist, these words are first, presumably implying importance). The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have a joint effort to create curricula within a taxonomy, dividing computing into four main domains: computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE), information systems (IS), and software engineering (SE). This paper is a fine example of a paper in the CS domain, with little relation to SE.

I commend the authors for a job well done, and worth doing. Unfortunately, potential readers may be misled by a less than careful choice of keywords.