TDRP history

1993

John Yunker created the RTP (Run-Time Parameters) system, consisting of the rtp library and a program for generating code. rtp was based on lex and yacc and created a number of table files which were needed by the running executable.

1994

John Caron reworked RTP into TDRP (Table-Driven Runtime Parameters). TDRP was still based on lex and yacc. tdrp_gen generated 3 header files and 1 C-code file. The run-time tables were no longer required.

1995 - 1997

Mike Dixon ported TDRP to Dec Alpha and Linux, fixing some memory bugs along the way. The number of generated files was reduced from 4 to 2, one header and one C code. The Slackware Linux port was straightfoward. However, later Linux versions used bison for yacc, and tdrp_gen exhibited a bug which we have never been able to solve. Therefore the Slackware yacc and lex programs had to be installed for TDRP to work.

1998

Mike Dixon rewrote TDRP in vanilla C to remove the dependency on yacc and lex which was causing problems on Linux. The system was enhanced in a number of ways, and C++ class code generation was added.