“THE FIVE GENERATIONS

OF COMPUTERS”
GROUP 2

Reported by: Roshell L. Dakay

JanRay Demerin
 • Vacuum tube – an electronic device that
controls the flow of electrons in a
vacuum. It used as a switch, amplifier, or
display screen in many older model
radios, televisions, computers, etc.

BASIC TERMS
• Transistor – an electronic component that
can be used as an amplifier or as a switch. It
is used to control the flow of electricity in
radios, televisions, computers, etc.
• Integrated circuit (IC) – a small electronic
circuit printed on a chip (usually made of
silicon) that contains many its own circuit
elements (e.g. transistors, diodes, resistors,
etc.).

• Microprocessor – an electronic component

held on an integrated circuit that contains a
computer’s central processing unit (CPU)
and other associated circuits.
• CPU (central processing unit) – It is often
referred to as the brain or engine of a
computer where most of the processing and
operations take place (CPU is part of a
microprocessor).

• Magnetic drum – a cylinder coated with

magnetic material, on which data and
programs can be stored.
• Magnetic core – uses arrays of small rings of
magnetized material called cores to store
information.

• Machine language – a low-level

programming language comprised of a
collection of binary digits (ones and zeros)
that the computer can read and understand.
• Assembly language is like the machine
language that a computer can understand,
except that assembly language uses
abbreviated words (e.g. ADD, SUB, DIV…) in
place of numbers (0s and 1s).

• Memory – a physical device that is used to

store data, information and program in a
computer.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) – an area of
computer science that deals with the
simulation and creation of intelligent
machines or intelligent behave in computers
(they think, learn, work, and react like
humans).
 Classification of generations of computers
The evolution of computer technology is often divided into five generations.

Five Generations of Computers

Generations of computers Generations timeline Evolving hardware

First generation 1940s-1950s Vacuum tube based
Second generation 1950s-1960s Transistor based
Third generation 1960s-1970s Integrated circuit based
Fourth generation 1970s-present Microprocessor based
Fifth generation The present and the future Artificial intelligence based
 • The computer has evolved from a large-
sized simple calculating
machine to a smaller but much more powerful
machine.
GENERATIONS • The evolution of computer to the
current state is defined in
OF COMPUTER terms of the generations of computer.
• Each generation of computer is designed
based on a new
technological development, resulting in better,
cheaper and
smaller computers that are more powerful, faster
and efficient
than their predecessors.
 • The first computers used vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
• They were often enormous and taking up entire
room.
• First generation computers relied on machine
language.
• They were very expensive to operate and in
addition tousling a great deal of electricity,
generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause
of malfunctions.
First Generation Computers • The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples
(1940-1956) of first-generation computing devices.
 Advantages :
• It was only electronic device
• First device to hold memory

Disadvantages :
First Generation Computers • Too bulky i.e large in size
• Vacuum tubes burn frequently
(1940-1956) • They were producing heat
• Maintenance problems
 • Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered
in the second generation of computers.
• Second-generation computers moved from
cryptic binary machine language to symbolic.
• High-level programming languages were also
being developed at this time, such as early
versions of COBOL and FORTRAN.
• These were also the first computers that stored
their instructions in their memory.

Second Generation Computers

(1956-1963)
 Advantages :
• Size reduced considerably
• The very fast
• Very much reliable

Disadvantages :
Second Generation Computers • They over heated quickly
• Maintenance problems
(1956-1963)
 • The development of the integrated circuit was
the hallmark of the third generation of computers.
• Transistors were miniaturized and placed on
silicon chips, called semiconductors.
• Instead of punched cards and printouts, users
interacted with third generation computers through
keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an
operating system.
• Allowed the device to run many different
applications at one time.
Third Generation Computers
(1964-1971)
 Advantages :
• ICs are very small in size
• Improved performance
• Production cost cheap

Disadvantages :
Third Generation Computers • ICs are sophisticated
(1964-1971)

Fourth Generation Computers
(1971-present)
• The microprocessor brought the fourth
generation of computers, as thousands of
integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon
chip.
• The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located
all the components of the computer.
• From the central processing unit and memory to
input/output controls—on a single chip.
• . Fourth generation computers also saw the
development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld
devices.
 • Fifth generation computing devices, based on
artificial intelligence.
• Are still in development, though there are some
applications, such as voice recognition.
• The use of parallel processing and
superconductors is helping to make artificial
intelligence a reality.
• The goal of fifth-generation computing is to
develop devices that respond to natural language
input and are capable of learning and self-
Fifth Generation Computers organization.
(present and beyond)
THAT’S ALL THANK YOU!!!