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We present an extensive, annotated bibliography of the abstract machines designed for each of the main programming paradigms (imperative, object oriented, functional, logic and concurrent). We conclude that whilst a large number of efficient abstract machines have been designed for particular language implementations, relatively little work has been done to design abstract machines in a systematic fashion.

In this paper we describe the design rationale of GANIMAM, a web-based system which generates interactive animations of abstract machines from specifications. Common principles of abstract machines come into play at three levels: the design of the specification language, the choice of graphical annotations to visualize higher-level abstractions and the use of the system to explore and better understand known and detect new principles.