Yes, John and Fran Allen wrote the first optimizing fortran compiler and developed most of the optimization techniques and analysis used by subsequent compilers

Yes, John and Fran Allen wrote the first optimizing fortran compiler and developed most of the optimization techniques and analysis used by subsequent compilers. I knew John and it was that work that led him to design an instruction set optimized for compilers that was implemented in the 801. I'm less aware of George's contribution. Perhaps you could enlighten me.