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Celebrating the creator of Cobol
The 100th anniversary of the birth of programming language pioneer Grace Hopper was celebrated on 9 December. Widely credited as being the "mother" of the Cobol computer language her work was hugely influential.

Even now if you take cash from an ATM, renew the MoT on your car or file your taxes, a Cobol program will handle some of the work involved.

It is a state of affairs that undermines the assertion that the only constant in the world of hi-tech is change.

The implication is that the relentless pace of technology development means anything more than a few months old is thrown out along with the empty pizza boxes.

A look below the surface of the computer world uncovers some very old technology - such as the Cobol programming language. The COmmon Business Oriented Language was created in 1959 and, though it is no longer taught in schools and universities, you still bump up against it every day.