Abstract
- Focuses on Compatibility or Portability
- A small piece of code that acts as a bridge between two incompatible components or layers of a software system
- Common implementation are API (接口垫片) & Compatibility (兼容性垫片) etc
Terminologies
API (接口垫片)
- used to implement new APIs that are not supported by the underlying OS or hardware
Compatibility (兼容性垫片)
- Used to provide compatibility between different versions of software
- When a new version of software is released, it may break compatibility with older applications that rely on the older version’s APIs
- A shim can be used to translate between the two versions of the API, allowing older applications to continue to work with the newer software
- A shim might be used to adapt a Windows application to run on Linux