The Five Generations of

Computers
ZEROETH GENERATION
• Man used his fingers, ropes, beads,
bones, pebbles and other objects for
counting.
•Abacus, Pascaline, Difference &
Anylitical engines
•Electricity was not yet invented
Early Calculating Machines
Abacus
Slide rule
Mechanical calculator
Stepped reckoner
Textile industry - Jacquard Loom
Difference engine
First generation computers
(1940-1956)
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 to using a great deal of
electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation
computing devices.
Vacuum Tubes -
First Generation Electronic
Computers used Vacuum Tubes
Vacuum tubes are glass tubes with
circuits inside.
Vacuum tubes have no air inside
of them, which protects the
circuitry.
UNIVAC(Universal Automatic Computer)
first fully electronic
digital computer built
in the U.S.
Created at the
University of
Pennsylvania
weighed 30 tons
contained 18,000
vacuum tubes
Cost a paltry $487,000
DISADVANTAGES:

They generate more heat causing

many problems in temperature
regulation and climate control.

Tubes were subject to frequent burn-

out.
First generation computers
Second generation computers
(1956-1963)
• 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,
1956 – 1963: The Transistor
The year 1959 marked the invention of transistors, which
characterized the second generation of computers.
TRANSISTOR – was a three-legged component which shrunk
the size of the first generation computers. Occupied only 1/100th
of the space occupied by a vacuum tube
More reliable, had greater computational speed, required no
warm-up time and consumed far less electricity.
Second generation computers
Third generation computers
(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,
1964 – 1971: The Integrated Circuit
Third generation computers arose in 1965 with the
invention of smaller electronic circuits called integrated
circuits (IC’S)
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS – are square silicon chips
containing circuitry that can perform the functions of
hundreds of transistors.
ADVANTAGES:

RELIABILITY – Unlike vacuum tubes,

silicon will not break down easily. It is
very seldom that you will have to replace
it.
LOW COST – Silicon chips are
relatively cheap because of their small
size and availability in the market. It also
consumes less electricity.
Third generation computers
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.
FOURTH GENERATION,
1971 – present: The Microprocessor
Marked by the use of microprocessor
MICROPROCESSOR – is a silicon chip that contains the
CPU – part of the computer where all processing takes
place.
4004 chip – was the first microprocessor introduced by
Intel Corporation.
Fourth generation computers
Fifth generation computers
(present and beyond)
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-organization.
Fifth generation computers
Summary (Generations of Computers)
1st Generation
Made to order operating instructions
Different binary coded programs told it how to operate
Difficult to program and limited versatility and speed
Vacuum tubes
Magnetic drum storage
2nd Generation
Transistors
Memory - magnetic core
Assembly language
Printers and memory
Programming languages
3rd Generation
Quartz clock
Integrated circuit
Operating systems
4th Generation 1971 - now
LSI - Large Scale Integration
VLSI- Very Large Scale Integration (ULSI)
Chip
General consumer usage
Networks
5th Generation
This is the future
What will it be like?
What changes will be big enough to create this new generation?
Pioneers of Computing
Charles Babbage
Konrad Zuse
John von Neumann
Alan Turing
Steve Jobs
Important Machines
IBM 700 Series
IBM 360/370 Series
CDC star
Cray 1
DEC VAX
IBM PC
Apple McIntosh
Generations of Electronic
Computers
First Second Third Fourth Gen.
Generation Gen. Gen.
Technology Vacuum Transistors Integrated Microchips
Tubes Circuits (millions of
(multiple transistors)
transistors)
Size Filled Whole Filled half a Smaller Tiny - Palm
Buildings room Pilot is as
powerful as
old building
sized
computer