Contents
Frances Allen
Developing ways for compilers to make computer programs run more efficiently.
Program Optimization · Control Flow Analysis
- Born
- 4 August 1932
- Birthplace
- Peru, New York, United States
- Died
- 4 August 2020
More people
Frances Allen
Frances Allen was an American computer scientist who spent her career at IBM. Her work on program analysis and optimisation helped establish techniques used in modern compilers, and she became the first woman to receive the Turing Award.
Early life
Farm childhood
Grew up near Lake Champlain and attended a one-room school.
Mathematics teacher
Taught school mathematics before earning a master’s degree at the University of Michigan.
Career
- 1957
Joined IBM
Initially taught colleagues the new programming language Fortran.
- 1960s–1970s
Compiler research
Developed program-analysis techniques, often with John Cocke.
- 1980s–1990s
Parallel computing
Led work on automatically distributing computation across processors.
- 2006
Turing Award
Received computing’s major research award.
Contributions
Program Optimization
Set out a systematic approach to improving programs automatically.
Control Flow Analysis
Studied how execution moves through a program.
PTRAN
Led a project to identify opportunities for parallel execution.
Beyond computing
Mentorship
Worked to attract and retain women in computing and mentored IBM colleagues.
Mountaineering
Was an enthusiastic climber and a member of the American Alpine Club.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Further source: ibm.com ↗Photo: Rama. CC BY-SA 2.0 fr · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
