Generation of Computers

Generation of Computers

Published by: Sujan

Published date: 18 Jun 2021

Generation of Computers - Photo

Generation of Computer

In computer terminology, the word generation describes a stage of technological development or innovation that changed the way of the computer to operate. This also came up with the result in being smaller, cheaper, more powerful, efficient, and reliable devices in each generation of computers. According to the kind of processor installed in a machine, the development of computers is divided into five distinct periods. These are characterized by major technical development. They are:

1. First Generation (1945-1954)

These computers were very large in size and required huge space for its placement. They were used in scientific applications in the then time. They did not have versatility.

Characteristics:

  • These were based on vacuum tube technology.
  • Due to the use of more vacuum tubes, there was the production of more heat energy, so it required a major cooling system.
  • Punch cards were used for input and print out display for the output.
  • Acoustic delay lines were used as main memory and magnetic drum as secondary memory.
  • Coding of the instructions used 0s and 1s.
  • There was no use of Programmed operating systems.
  • These could solve one problem at a time.
  • Computing time was milliseconds.
  • The processing speed was less kilohertz.

Examples: ENIAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, IBM-701, and IBM-650.

Generation of computer

Fig: First Generation Computer

2. Second Generation (1955-1964)

These were smaller in size as compared to that of the first one. They had a better probability than the previous one.

Characteristics:

  • These computers were smaller, faster, cheaper, and more energetic because they used transistor technology.
  • They used magnetic core technology for the primary memory.
  • They also used magnetic tapes as well as magnetic disks for the secondary storage.
  • These also had the concept of storage.
  • They used assembly language which uses mnemonics like ADD for adding and SUB for subtracting for coding.
  • Computing time was milliseconds and microseconds.

Examples: PDP-8, CDC 1604, IBM 1401

Generation of computer

Fig: Second Generation Computer

3. Third Generation (1965-1979)

In this, users interacted through input and output devices such as keyboards and monitors. IC was the main component, made of a thin silicon wafer. They were more portable than the previous generation computers.

Characteristics:

  • They used IC chips which had multiple transistors placed on a single silicon chip.
  • There was the use of keyboard and monitor interaction with the help of the Operating System.
  • High-level Languages were used for programming.
  • Computing time was about 12 MHz
  • It didn’t require a cooling system as it did not produce heat.
  • It became available to people and also had a commercial value.

Examples: PDP 11, NCR 935

Generation of computer

Fig: Third Generation Computer

4. Fourth Generation (1980-Present)

The fourth-generation computer is the improvement of the third generation. It uses LSI (Large Scale Integration) as well as VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) technologies. These were more reliable, portable, and cheap. There was an introduction to Multimedia techniques.

Characteristics:

  •  It uses a microprocessor as a processing unit.
  •  It supports GUI (Graphical User Interface) which is a user-friendly interface to interact with the computer.
  •  There is a use of High-level programming languages.
  •  GHz, as processing speed is common in this generation.
  •  Computing time is in picoseconds.
  •  They are widely available for commercial purposes.

Examples: Intel Core, Apple PCs, IBM PCs, etc.

Generation of computer

Fig: Fourth Generation Computer

5. Fifth Generation (Present- Beyond)

This generation computer is the best in the computing era. These are still developing and in the future, it will dominate other technologies as well. These are being designed to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) and solve problems on its own. They will estimate the human way of thinking. These will, later on, respond to the natural languages used by us.

Characteristics:

  • Processing units are Bio-Chips.
  • It will have high reasoning capacity.
  • They use the ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration).
  • They will be very easy to operate.
  • These will cope up with natural languages.

Generation of computer