Generations Of Computer

 GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

                                         The first electronic computer was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania based on vacuum tube technology. Vacuum tubes were used  to perform logic operations and to store data. Generations of computers has been divided into five according to the development of technologies used to fabricate the processors, memories and I/O units.          

                                              

•                                                                                                           First Generation (1941-1956)

 

 World War gave rise to numerous developments and started off the computer age.Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was produced by a partnershp between University of Pennsylvannia and the US government. It consisted of 18,000vacuum tubes and 7000 resistors. It was developed by John Presper Eckert and John W.Mauchly and was a general purpose computer. "Von Neumann designed the ElectronicDiscrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC) in 1945 with a memory to hold both astored program as well as data." Von Neumann's computer allowed for all the computer functions to be controlled by a single source.Then in 1951 came the Universal Automatic Computer(UNIVAC I), designed byRemington rand and collectively owned by US census bureau and General Electric.UNIVAC amazingly predicted the winner of 1952, presidential elections,

Dwight D.Eisenhower.In first generation computers, the operating instructions or programs were specifically built for the task for which computer was manufactured. The Machine language was theonly way to tell these machines to perform the operations. There was great difficulty to program these computers ,and more when there were some malfunctions. FirstGeneration computers used Vacuum tubes and magnetic drums(for data storage).

• Second Generation Computers (1956-1963)

 The invention of Transistors marked the start of the second generation. These transistorstook place of the vacuum tubes used in the first generation computers. First large scalemachines were made using these technologies to meet the requirements of atomic energylaboratories. One of the other benefits to the programming group was that the secondgeneration replaced Machine language with the assembly language. Even thoughcomplex in itself Assemly language was much easier than the binary code.Second generation computers also started showing the characteristics of modern daycomputers with utilities such as printers, disk storage and operating systems. Manyfinancial information was processed using these computers.In Second Generation computers, the instructions(program) could be stored inside thecomputer's memory. High-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-OrientedLanguage) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) were used, and they are still used for some applications nowdays.

•   Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)

The invention of Transistors marked the start of the second generation. These transistorstook place of the vacuum tubes used in the first generation computers. First large scalemachines were made using these technologies to meet the requirements of atomic energylaboratories. One of the other benefits to the programming group was that the secondgeneration replaced Machine language with the assembly language. Even thoughcomplex in itself Assemly language was much easier than the binary code.Second generation computers also started showing the characteristics of modern daycomputers with utilities such as printers, disk storage and operating systems. Manyfinancial information was processed using these computers.In Second Generation computers, the instructions(program) could be stored inside thecomputer's memory. High-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-OrientedLanguage) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) were used, and they are still used for some applications nowdays.   Circuit(IC) was invented in 1958 by Jack Kilby. It combined electronic components ontoa small silicon disc, made from quartz. More advancement made possible the fitings of even more components on a small chip or a semi conductor. Also in third generationcomputers, the operating systems allowed the machines to run many differentapplications. These applications were monitored and coordinated by the computer'smemory

•   Fourth Generation (1971-Present)

Fourth Generation computers are the modern day computers. The Size started to go downwith the improvement in the integerated circuits. Very Large Scale(VLSI) and UltraLarge scale(ULSI) ensured that millions of components could be fit into a small chip. Itreduced the size and price of the computers at the same time increasing power, efficiencyand reliability. "The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit onestep further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit,memory, and input and output controls) on a minuscule chip."Due to the reduction of cost and the availability of the computers power at a small placeallowed everyday user to benefit. First came the minicomputers, which offered usersdifferent applications, most famous of these the word processors and spreadsheets, whichcould be used by non-technical users. Video game systems like Atari 2600 generated theinterest of general populace in the computers.In 1981, IBM introduced personal computers for home and office use. "The number of  personal computers in use more than doubled from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in1982. Ten years later, 65 million PCs were being used." Computer size kept gettingreduced during the years. It went down from Desktop to laptops to Palmtops. Machintoshintroduecd Graphic User Interface in which the users didnt' have to type instructions butcould use Mouse for the purpose.The continued improvement allowed the networking of computers for the sharing of data.Local Area Networks(LAN) and Wide Area Network(WAN), were potential benefits, inthat they could be implemented in corporations and everybody could share data over it.Soon the internet aand World Wide Web appeared on the computer scene and formentedthe Hi-Tech revolution of 90's

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond)

 Fifth generations computers are only in the minds of advance research scientiets and being tested out in the laboratories. These computers will be under ArtificalIntelligence(AI), They will be able to take commands in a audio visual way and carry outinstructions. Many of the operations which requires low human intelligence will be perfomed by these computers.Parallel Processing is coming and showing the possibiliy that the power of many CPU'scan be used side by side, and computers will be more powerful than thoes under centraL.

 processing. Advances in Super Conductor technology will greatly improve the speed of information traffic. Future looks bright for the computers.




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