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The Five Generations of

Computers

Alex Ribeiro, Angelo Giroldi, Leonardo Couto,

Mauricio Torres, Rodrigo Sánchez
Generations of Computer          
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 The computer has evolved from a large-sized simple calculating
machine to a smaller but much more powerful machine. 

 The evolution of computer to the current state is defined in terms of

the generations of computer. 

 Nowadays, there are five generations of computer. In the following

slideshow, we will present the “history of computers” in terms of
the technology, computing features, physical appearance and their
applications.
First Generation Computers (1940-1956)
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 The first computers used vacuum tubes(a sealed glass tube containing a
near-vacuum which allows the free passage of electric current.)
for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.

 They were often enormous and taking up entire room.

 This generation of computers relied on machine language.

 They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal
of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of
technical problems.

 The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of the first

generation computing devices.
First Generation Computers  4
Advantages : 
 It was only electronic device
 First device to hold memory

Disadvantages :
 The size was too much large
 Vacuum tubes burn frequently
 Its produced a lot of heat
 Maintenance problems   
Second Generation Computers 5
(1956-1963)
• The period of second generation was from 1959-1965.
• In this generation, transistors were used that were cheaper, consumed
less power, more compact in size, more reliable and faster than the
first-generation machines made of vacuum tubes.
•  In this generation, magnetic cores were used as the primary memory
and magnetic tape and magnetic disks as secondary storage devices.
• In this generation, assembly language and high-level programming
languages like FORTRAN, COBOL were used. The computers used
batch processing and multiprogramming operating system.
 Second Generation Computers 6
The main features of second generation are:
• Use of transistors
 • Reliable in comparison to first generation computers
 • Smaller size as compared to first generation computers
• Generates less heat as compared to first generation computers
 • Consumed less electricity as compared to first generation computers
• Faster than first generation computers 
• Still very costly 
• AC required
• Supported machine and assembly languages
 Third Generation Computers 7

(1964-1971)
 The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the
third generation of computers.
 Transistors were miniaturized and placed on siliconchips, 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 8

Advantages :
 ICs are very small in size
 Improved performance
 Production cost cheap

Disadvantages :
 ICs are sophisticated
Fourth Generation Computers 9
(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.
 Fourth Generation Computers
(1971- Present)
The main features of fourth generation are:

• VLSI technology used

• Very cheap
• Portable and reliable
• Use of PCs
• Very small size
• Pipeline processing
• No AC required
• Concept of internet was introduced
• Great developments in the fields of networks
• Computers became easily available
Fourth Generation Computers 11
Fifth Generation Computers 12
(Present and beyond)
 In the fifth generation, VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large
Scale Integration) technology.
 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-
organization.
 All the high-level languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc., are used in
this generation.
Fifth Generation Computers 13
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The AI (Artificial Intelligence)
A.I includes:

 Robotics

 Neural Networks

 Game Playing

 Development of expert systems to make decisions in real-life

situations

 Natural language understanding and generation

 Fifth Generation Computers 14

Advantages or main features:

 ULSI technology

 Development of true artificial intelligence

 Development of Natural language processing

 Advancement in Parallel Processing

 Advancement in Superconductor technology

 More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia features

 Availability of very powerful and compact computers at cheaper rates

Questions from all generations:

 1: Why did the vacuum tubes burn frequently?

 2: Did the second generation computer use transitors before vacuum

tubes?

 3: What was the hallmark of the third generation?

 4:Which are some of the main features of the fourth generations of

computers?

 5:Which of the only news features compared to the fourth generation?

Match the concepts with the
definitions
 1: ULSI
 2: UNIVAC
 3: COBOL
 4: VLSI 

 1: Very Large Scale Integrated circuits

 2: Is a programming language
 3: Ultra Large Scale Integration
 4: Computing device of the first generation
 True or false
 1: The first generation based on programming language
 2 : The magnetic cores are used as RAM
 3: The ICs are sophisticated
 4: IBM created the Macintosh in 1984 
 5: VLSI technology became ULSI technology