John Cocke
Frances E. Allen, working alone and jointly with John Cocke, introduced many of the concepts for optimization. Allen's 1966 paper, "Program Optimization," introduced the use of graph data structures to encode program content for optimization. Her 1970 papers, "Control Flow Analysis" and "A Basis for Program Optimization" established "intervals" as the context for efficient and effective data flow analysis and optimization. Her 1971 paper with Cocke, "A Catalogue of Optimizing Transformations", provided the first description and systematization of optimizing transformations. Her 1973 and 1974 papers on interprocedural data flow analysis extended the analysis to whole programs. Her 1976 paper with Cocke describes one of the two main analysis strategies used in optimizing compilers today.