WIMP
In
astronomy,
WIMPs, or
weakly interacting massive particles, figure into one explanation of the
dark matter problem.
The particles are called "weakly interacting" because they seem not to have much interaction with normal matter (
electrons,
protons, and
neutrons)
other than
gravitational attraction (thus "massive").
In
human-computer interaction,
WIMP stands for the "window, icon, menu, pointing device" paradigm that characterizes most commercial
graphical user interfaces from
1984 to the present. It was developed at the
Xerox Parc. See
History of the graphical user interface.
A Wimp is a person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy.