Generation of Computers

First Generation
First Generation (1940-56): Vacuum Tubes
Vacuum tubes Magnetic drums Input, Output Binary coded language Dependent

First Generation
Characteristics:
Requires lot of space for installation Computation time in milliseconds Needs air-conditioning & large electricity Non-portable, expensive Constant maintenance Lacks versatility and speed Difficult to program Manual assembly required Eg. ENIAC, EDVAC, and UNIVAC

amount

of

Second Generation
Second Generation (1956-63): Transistors Semiconductor material Three leads for electrical functions Magnetic cores and magnetic disks Input, Output Assembly language (mnemonics)

Second Generation
Characteristics:

Computation in microseconds Less frequent maintenance More portable and low heat generated Assembly language used Still requires air conditioning and manual assembly Smaller than first generation computers Eg. PDP-8, IBM 1401, and IBM 7090

Third Generation
Third Generation (1964-Early 1970s): Transistors and resistors Integrated Circuits
Keyboards and Monitors Different applications run at a time Central program

Third Generation
Characteristics: Nanoseconds Reliable than second generation Consumed less power and generated less heat Size smaller than second generation Low maintenance cost Labor and cost reduced Possibility of high level languages. Eg. NCR 395, and B6500

Fourth Generation
Fourth Generation (Early 1970s-Till Date): Microprocessors

Millions of transistors Built on a single piece of silicon LSI, VLSI, Ultra LSI PCs Semi-conductor memories Secondary memories Internet, GUIs, mouse and hand-held devices

Fourth Generation
Characteristics:

Smaller and cheaper Portable and quiet reliable No air conditioning required Very low cost and minimum maintenance Use of GUI and pointing devices Internetworking and resource sharing Eg. Apple II, Altait 8800, and CRAY-1

Fifth Generation
Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond): Artificial Intelligence What-if-then analyses Expert systems Characteristics Mega chips SLSI Parallel processing Artificial Intelligence Expert systems, Natural Language Processing, Speech Recognition, Vision recognition and robotics.