Sup dis

what defines a Virtual Machine

must make one in python, haven't given the specifics of what it's suppose to do, we just know that it will have to act as a compiler

Hence, a VM is a compiler in the sense that it translates a language (bytecode for instance) to side-effects.
I can accept this.

A virtual machine (VM) is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within your normal host operating system".[1] Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization.