Computer Generations

Computer Generations

Answer

• Five generations of computer.

• The computer Of each generation is faster, smaller and more powerful than its preceding generation.

• Consequently, advances in hardware have also resulted in the development of powerful and user-friendly programming language.

Computer Generation

The First Generation: Vacuum Tube

• Computers of this generation (like the Colossus and ENIAC) used thousands Of vacuum

 tubes for computation.

• Took lots of space.

• Too Expensive.

• Required huge no of cooler or AC.

• Memory requirements made by magnetic drums.

• Use only for Scientific purpose.

• Take punch card as input and provide output only on paper.

fig: the first generation of computer.

fig: vacuum-tube

The Second Generation: Transistors

• Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors were faster, smaller and consumed less power smaller magnetic cores also replaced the first-generation magnetic drums.

• Even though transistor generated less heat, second-generation computers still needed air-conditioning.

• Input-Output mechanism Similar to the first generation.

• Second-generation computers were programmed using a symbolic or assembly language.

fig: second-generation-computer

fig: Transistors

Third Generation: Integrated Circuit

• Computer speed and efficiency got a sharp boost with the development Of the integrated circuit.

• computers consequently got smaller, cheaper and energy-efficient. For these reasons, 

they could be seen in several medium-sized organizations.

• This generation adopted a keyboard and monitor to interact with the user.

• Memory capacity increased substantially and the magnetic hard disk was used for secondary storage.

• Third-generation computers also had an operating system, which is a special program 

meant to control the resources of the computer.

• Programing Language like C, Java, C-H- were introduced.

fig: third-generation-computer.

fig: IC'S

Fourth Generation: Microprocessor

• The integration Of components went several steps ahead. Using LSI (Large Scale Integration) and VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) technology, it is now possible to have the entire CPU, its associated memory and input/output control circuitry on a single chip.

• Microprocessors have invaded our homes to drive desktops, laptops, smartphones, microwave ovens and washing machines.

• Laptops and smartphones offer gigabytes (GB) of memory compared to a few megabytes (MB) that were available in the early days of this generation.

• Operating systems have moved from the rudimentary MSDOS to a mouse-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) like Windows. More advanced systems like Linux are now available for desktops and laptops, and a variant of it (Android) powers most Of our smartphones.

• This generation has also made rapid growth in networking technology, sharing Of information, became possible by connecting computers in a network using TCP/IP technology.

fig : fourth-generation-computer

fig: microprocessor

Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence

• The generation which we are using.

• Parallel processing.

• Fifth-generation systems should be capable Of producing human-like behaviour. 

• These systems expected to interact with users in natural language and learn from experience. 

• Speech recognition and speech output should also be possible with these systems.

• Support all kind of object-oriented programing languages (Java, Python, PHP, C++).

fig: fifth-generations-computer

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