COMP1116

Applications of ICT

Lecture # 04 Generations of Digital Computers

Instructor: Dr. Aftab Akram (PhD CS)

Assistant Professor
Generations of Electronic
Computers
• In 1945, ENIAC the first computer made completely
of electronic components was made
• ENIAC ushered the era of Digital Electronic
Computers
• Since then we are witnessing new and improved
electronic computers
• For ease of study, the timeline of developing of
electronic computers is divided into generations
• Each generation is better than the previous
generations in term of performance
Generations of Electronic
Computers
• The generations of electronic computers are
formed on following factors:
• Switching Technology
• Size of Computer
• Power of Computer
• Cost of Computer
• Switching Technology is key to other three factors,
which plays important role in developing of
computing technology
• In each new generation, we will see new and
improved switching technology
Vacuum Tubes
• Vacuum Tube or electron tube or valve was
developed by Ambrose Fleming in 1904.
• The vacuum tube is a glass tube with its gas
removed, creating a vacuum.
• Vacuum tubes contain electrodes for controlling
electron flow and were used in early computers as
a switch or an amplifier.
• Vacuum Tubes were used as switch in ENIAC and
other digital computers of first generation
Vacuum Tubes
First Generation
• The span of first generation computers was from
1945 to 1956
• Vacuum Tubes were used as switch in first
generation computers
• Vacuum Tubes replaced electromagnetic relays
which were used in early electromechanical
computers
• Electromagnetic relays were slow and very difficult
to build a larger and powerful computer from relays
First Generation
• Despite being a better technology than earlier
computers were huge in size
• These computers consumed a lot of energy for
operations and cooling
• Moreover, these computers were not
programmable and mostly Hardwired Programmed
• Their prices were very high
• Due to their huge sizes, they were kept in large
buildings
• But still they had very meager computation power
First Generation Computers
• EDSAC
• In 1949 Prof. Maurice Wilkes of Cambridge University
developed EDSAC
• EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)
• This machine was able to perform different mathematical
calculations in microseconds
First Generation Computers
• EDVAC
• In 1952 Prof. John Von
Neumann of Pennsylvania
University developed EDVAC
• EDVAC (Electronic Discrete
Variable Automatic Computer)
• EDVAC was a refinement of
ENIAC
• Based upon Stored Program
Architecture developed by Prof.
Neumann
• First time data and instructions
were represented in Binary
Form
• All modern computers except
super computers are according
Dr. Neumann's design
First Generation Computers
• IBM 701
• In 1952 IBM Corp. developed IBM 701
• Also known as Defense Calculator
• Magnetic Drum was used for data storage
• This device consisted of cylinder coated with magnetic
material
• It can access data hundreds times faster then punched cards
• Limited capacity
First Generation Computers
• UNIVAC
• The developers of ENIAC, J. Prosper Eckert and John Mauchly,
later formed a company
• They developed UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)
• It used magnetic tapes for data storage
• UNIVAC was very popular because of its small size and low
cost
Second Generation
• The span of second generation is from 1956 to 1963
• The major innovation of this generation was use of
transistors as switching technology
• Transistor has a switching time of approximately 0.3
microseconds.
• Due to their smaller size, now it was possible to add
more switches to make computers more powerful
• Transistors have better endurance than Vacuum tube
• This factor ultimately lead to extreme reductions in
Computer prices
• Now computers become smaller in size, and due to non
fragile components, their transportation become easier
Second Generation
• High level programming languages like C, were
developed which made programming extremely
easy
• Second generation computers mostly used
magnetic drums or magnetic taps for storage
• Although TRADIC (TRAsistorized DIgital Computer)
was first computer made of transistors,
• However, IBM7090 is regarded as first
transistorized computer available to all consumers
Second Generation Computers

Whirlwind-I UNIVAC-III
Third Generation
• The span of this generation is from 1964 to 1971
• Before discussing computers in this generation, we must
first have a look at what are Integrated Circuits or ICs
• An Integrated Circuit (or IC or Chip) is a set of electronic
circuits on a small piece of semiconductor material, e.g.,
Silicon.
• A large number of miniaturized transistors and other
components are integrated on this chip
• This results in circuits that are orders of magnitude smaller,
faster, and less expensive than those constructed of discrete
components, allowing a large transistor count.
• In this way, a very large number of components can be build
on a smaller space, allowing not only high spatial efficiency
but also a huge reduction in manufacturing costs
Third Generation
• ICs have three main advantages over discrete circuits:
• size
• cost
• Performance
• The size and cost is low because the chips, with all their
components, are printed as a unit
by photolithography rather than being constructed one
transistor at a time.
• Furthermore, packaged ICs use much less material than
discrete circuits.
• Performance is high because the IC's components
switch quickly and consume comparatively little power
because of their small size and proximity.
Third Generation

Jack Kilby's original integrated circuit.

The world's first IC. Made from germanium with
gold-wire interconnects.
Integrated Circuits

An IC Chip Package
Third Generation
• Third generation computers were based on Integrated
Circuit technology
• Due to ICs, the third generation computers were:
• Smaller in size
• Lower in Cost
• More powerful
• They can process data in micro (10-6) or nano (10-9)
second
• High level programming languages, e.g., FORTRAN,
COBOL were introduced
• These computers can process multiple programs at the
same time, i.e., multi processing
• They had magnetic discs instead magnetic drums or
tape drives which improved significantly improved
storage capability
 Third Generation Computers- IBM 360
The IBM System/360 is a family of
mainframe computer systems that
was announced by IBM on April 7,
1964, and delivered between 1965
and 1978. It was the first family of
computers designed to cover both
commercial and scientific
applications, and to cover a
complete range of applications from
small to large.
Source: Wikipedia

The IBM 360 was extremely successful in

the market, allowing customers to purchase
a smaller system with the knowledge they
would be able to move to larger ones if
their needs grew, without reprogramming
application software or replacing peripheral
devices. Its design influenced computer
design for years to come; many consider it
one of the most successful computers in
history.
Source: Wikipedia
Fourth Generation
• The fourth generation started with the invention of
Microprocessor in 1972
• But lets first have a look at Integration levels
• With the passage of time, Integrated circuit technology kept
on improving
• Initially it was only possible to build upto 10 transistors per
chip
• But, later more and more transistors can be added on to the
chip of same size
• This introduced generations of integrated circuits or
integration levels
• With higher levels of integration, it is now possible to build
even smaller and more powerful computers
• The prices of these computers were even lower than their
predecessors
Fourth Generation
Fourth Generation
• Fourth Generation computers are faster and
cheaper
• They have very high data processing speeds
• Fourth Generation computers can be connected to
each through communication link from one part of
the world to the other
• Fourth Generation computers used different high
level languages and application programs e.g. CAD
(computer aided design), dBase, FoxPro etc.
• IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Apple etc.
Fifth Generation
• Fifth Generation computers are most advanced computers
• Fifth Generation computers are faster, smaller, cheaper and
have better data storage ability
• They are not made only for calculations
• They can have Artificial Intelligence i.e. they can learn and
think
• They could have voice and face recognition ability
• Fifth Generation computers are portable i.e. they can be
taken any where
• Fifth Generation computers can communicate with each
other through Internet
• Fifth Generation computers have multimedia ability i.e. they
can process different types of media e.g. Video and Voice at
the same time
Fifth Generation- Future trends
• Graphene-based transistors
• Quantum computing: Quantum computing uses
quantum bits, or qubits, which can be a zero, a one,
both at once, or some point in between
• DNA data storage: Convert data to base 4 and you can
encode it on synthetic DNA.
• Neuromorphic technology: The goal of this technology
is to create a computer that mimics the architecture of
the human brain in order to achieve human levels of
problem solving
• Optical computing: The ability to compute
using photons
• Distributed computing
Quantum Computer- IBM Q
System-I
Data storage and retrieval in DNA. First, data – like those stored on a computer
hard drive – are processed by an algorithm that translates 1s and 0s into DNA
sequences made up of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs. DNA strands with those sequences are
then synthesized – or written – and stored either in living cells (in vivo) or in the
test tube (in vitro). Data can be retrieved from storage in part by using PCR – the
same technology deployed to test for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – to
selectively target specific data packages. The PCR products can be read with DNA
sequencing instruments, providing the original DNA sequences, and reproducing
the data.
Figure adapted from Ceze, Nivala, and Strauss 2019, Nature Reviews Genetics.