For today’s computer science student, it is surprising to learn how difficult a task the mechanical evaluation of arithmetic expressions and the correct implementation of recursive procedures was in the early days of compiler writing. This account by one of the pioneers in the computing field of his technical experience in the discovery of efficient solutions causes us to pause for a moment and rethink the intricacies of the problem. The account also recalls the difficulty of giving due credit to all the contributors in this field and sheds some light on the many facets of international scientific cooperation and rivalry. This paper is interesting reading for the historically interested computer scientist. I found it exciting to learn more about the hallowed grounds of the Munich University of Technology, which I used to walk as a student shortly after all these events happened.