GENERATION OF COMPUTER

GENERATION OF COMPUTER

Each generation of computers is characterized by major technological development that fundamentally changed the way computers operate, resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable devices. Read about each generation and the developments that led to the current devices that we use today.

1) First Generation (1940-1956)

The First Generation of Computer was built using Vaccum Tube and Valves as major Component. The Valve and Vacuumtubes are electron tubes, which were invented in 1906 by frenchman lee-de-forest.

The main feature of Computer are as follows:

• Used Vacuum tubes
• Very large size, unreliable and slower than other generation.
• Most data were entered in the form of Punchcard.
• Operation System was used in term of Millisecond
• They have very short Lift Span.
• They have Limited Programming Capabilities.
• Produce a lot of Heat
• They were Difficulty to Maintain
• Eg: UNIVAC-I, ENIAC, EDVAC, IBM 650, BURROUGHS 220.

2) Second Generation (1956-1963)

This Computer used Transistor and Diodes instead of vacuum tubes as Main electronic Components. Transistors were Developed by Englishman William Shockley .

The main feature are as follwes

• Use transistor and diodes
• 1000 vacuum tubes were replaced with 1 Transistor
• Smaller in Size than first generation
• Operating Speed increase to Microsecond
• Produce less amount of Heat than first generation
• Machine dependent High level Language
• More Reliable, Efficeent, Higher accuracy than 1^st Generation computers
• IBM 1400 series and 7000 series, Control Data 3600, General Electric 635,Honeywell 200. 
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3) Third Generation (1964-1971)

The Computer which used IC are called Third Generation of Computer. An IC Contain 100 of Electronic Component Eg: Transistor, Capacitor's , register's etc.

The important features of these Computers are as follows

• IC were Used
• Processing Speed Increase to Nanosecond
• Monitor, Keyboard were Introduce as data output and Input Devices respectively.
• Operating System to control input and output.
• More reliable and better performance , Semi- Conductor used as Primary Storage.
• Computer become Protable.
• Operating System were used.
• The size of Computer rapidly decrease Compare to Second Generation Computer.
• Eg: IBM System/360, ICL 2800, IBM 370, Burroughs 5700, Digital Equipment PDP- 8 Series, etc.
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4) Fourth Generation (1971-till now)

Fourth Generation Computer used Large Scale Integrated (LSI) and Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI). Accommodate 1000's of Component are in Single Chip. The Microprocessor used in these Computers.

The major feature of this Generation of Computer is as follows

• Computer's are highly reliable and totally accuracy.
• The Operating Speed increase to Picoseconds and MIPS (Million of Instruction Per Second).
• Micro Computer were Introduced
• Magnetic Disk and Optical Instrument device Become Common for a Mass.
• Hard and sophisticated programs are used
• Audio respond terminals were made
• Word processing and e-mail system were introduced
• Multi-processing, Multi-media and multi-tasking is Possible.
• Smallest Computer Called Desktop, Laptop and Palmtop were introduced.
• Eg: IBM-PC, DEC 10, IBM 4341, IBM System/370, BURROUGHS B7700, HP3000, Apple 2, Apple Macintosh, Cray X-MP.

5) Fifth Generation (Present, future)

This Computer are set Under Development. The Computer Which will use AI (Artificial Intelligence ) and use Bio- Chip as memory device Created by User are called fifth generation .

The main feature of Computer are as follows

• They will be Intelligent
• They use Super Conductor Technology
• They will be Capable of Parallel Processing
• Because of use of Super Conductor Material like Bio-Chip speed will be very high.
• Large Subset of Natural Language like English, Japanese etc will be used and make more user friendly.