What is the difference between Emulate and Simulate?

Question

I ask this question in the context of computers and microcontrollers. I need a short answer. These words seem to be mixed, I do not know if they are interchangeable, but they have the feeling that they are not. Thank you I have not yet found a difference between the two in my research, and therefore I am posting the question here.

Answer 1

Not sure if this is enough for you, but I understand the following:

Emulators - Mimic equipment.
Simulators - Mimic software.

Take a look at this article for a worthy discussion of the topic.

And here is a quote from this web page:

Emulation versus simulation

The word "emulator" was coined in 1963 by IBM [12] during the development of the NPL product line (IBM 360) using "a new combination of software, microcode, and hardware" [13]. They found that using microcode hardware instead of simulating software to run programs written for earlier IBM computers dramatically accelerated the simulation. Earlier in 1957, IBM provided the IBM 709 computer with an interpreter program (software) for running legacy programs written for the IBM 704 to run on the IBM 709 and then on the IBM 7090 [14]. In 1963, when microcode was first used to speed up this modeling process, IBM engineers coined the term "emulator" to describe the concept.

It has recently become generally accepted to use the word “emulate” in the context of software. However, until 1980, “emulation” refers only to emulation using hardware or microcode, while “simulation” refers to pure software emulation. [15] For example, a computer specifically designed to run programs designed for a different architecture is an emulator. On the contrary, a simulator can be a program that runs on a PC so that you can simulate old Atari games. Purists continue to insist on this distinction, but nowadays, the term "emulation" often means a complete simulation of a machine that executes binary code.

Answer 2

Emulation is when (possibly microcoded) equipment, especially, and possibly software, passes through and processes each input exactly how the emulated microcontroller / processor will process the instruction.

Simulation is when software, especially, but perhaps hardware also accepts input and produces the expected result through various processes.

Emulation is an extremely accurate simulation of internal operations, while simulation is more focused on the concept of a black I / O box.