🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Snews.980914.161150.chris.11013@keris.demon.co.uk>
    chris@keris.demon.co.uk (Chris Croughton) writes:

> In article <905629239snx@ogham.org> robm@ogham.org "Robert Mortimer" wrote:
> 
> You mean a shim for Win95 stack which allows DOS programs running under
> Win95 to use it at the packet level?  I'm interested.
> 
> >[1] What is a shim exactly anyway?
> 
> In mechanical engineering, the term is generally used for a small very
> thin washer used as a buffer (and sometimes to add spacing) on a bolt.  I
> believe it came into computing to mean any inserted interface software,
> particularly between normally incompatible interfaces, from the
> engineering use.

In microwave engineering, a waveguide shim is a thin metallic spaces used at
waveguide flanges.  The inner edges have "teeth" which reduce leakage from
the seal.

The dictionary describes it as a thin wedge used in machinery to make
parts fit, so software usage to mean something that goes between two
incompatible interfaces to make them work is sort of understandable,
although "adapter" might be a better description if it's anything
non-trivial.

--Paul