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    Generations of Computers

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    Sasha Burke

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Generations of Computers

    Uploaded by

    Sasha Burke
    33 views13 pages

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    33 views13 pages

    Generations of Computers

    Uploaded by

    Sasha Burke

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 13

    Generations of Computers

    1
    Generations of Computer
    • 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.

    • 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.
    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 2
    Generations of Computer
    • Currently, there are five generations of computer. In the
    following subsections, we will discuss the generations of
    computer in terms of the technology used by them
    (hardware and software), computing characteristics (speed, i.e.,
    number of instructions executed per second), physical
    appearance, and their applications.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 3


    First Generation Computers
    (1940-1956)
    • 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.
    • 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(defect or breakdown).
    • The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-
    generation computing devices.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 4


    First Generation Computers
    Advantages :
    •It was only electronic device
    •First device to hold memory

    Disadvantages :
    •Too bulky i.e large in size
    •Vacuum tubes burn frequently
    •They were producing heat
    •Maintenance problems

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 5


    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.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 6


    Second Generation Computers
    Advantages :
    •Size reduced considerably
    •The very fast
    •Very much reliable

    Disadvantages :
    •They over heated quickly
    •Maintenance problems

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 7


    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.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 8


    Third generation computers
    Advantages :
    •ICs are very small in size
    •Improved performance
    •Production cost cheap

    Disadvantages :
    •ICs are sophisticated

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 9


    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.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 10


    Fourth Generation Computers

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 11


    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.

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 12


    Fifth Generation Computers

    © Educational Technology Department, Group Head Office, The City School. 13

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