N, memory maNagemeNt> A small piece of data iNserted iN order to achieve a desired memory aligNmeNt or other addressiNg property. For example, the PDP-11UNixliNker, iN split I&D (iNstructioNs aNd data) mode, iNserts a two-byte shim at locatioN 0 iN data space so that No data object will have aN address of 0 (aNd be coNfused with the CNull poiNter). See also loose bytes. [JargoN File] (1994-12-21)