For the greeting habit, see handshake.
In telecommunication, the term handshaking has the following meanings:
- In data communications, a sequence of events governed by hardware or software, requiring mutual agreement of the state of the operational modes prior to information exchange.
- The process used to establish communications parameters between two stations.
Note: Handshaking follows the establishment of a circuit between the stations and precedes information transfer. It is used to agree upon such parameters as information transfer rate, alphabet, parity, interrupt procedure, and other protocol features.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C and from MIL-STD-188
