What is Simulator?

A simulator is a software program which allows a developer to run a program designed for one type of machine (the target machine) on another (the development machine). The simulator simulates the running conditions of the target machine on the development machine. Using a simulator you can step through your code while the program is running.

You can change parts of your code in order to experiment with different solutions to a programming problem. Simulators do not support real interrupts or devices. An in-circuit simulator includes a hardware device which can be connected to your development system to behave like the target microcontroller. The incircuit simulator has all the functionality of the software simulator while also supporting the emulation of the microcontroller’s I/O capabilities.