Lesson 2: History of

Computers / Generations of
Computers

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The history of the computer goes back
several decades and there are five
definable generations of computers.

Each generation of computer is

characterized by a major technological
development that fundamentally changed
the way computers operate, resulting in
increasingly smaller, cheaper, more
powerful and more efficient and reliable
devices.
The five generations of computers are listed bellow;
>1940 – 1956: First Generation – Vacuum Tubes
>1956 – 1963: Second Generation – Transistors
>1964 – 1971: Third Generation – Integrated Circuits
>1972 – 2010: Fourth Generation – Microprocessors
>2010- : Fifth Generation – Artificial Intelligence
1940 – 1956: First Generation Computers – Vacuum Tubes
> These computers used vacuum tubes as circuitry and
magnetic drums for memory.
> They were enormous, literally taking up entire rooms.
> They were slow and inaccurate
> They consumed a lot of electricity
> They generated a lot of heat, which caused frequent
breakdowns.
> They relied on ‘machine language (programming language
that can be understood by computers).
> These computers were limited to solving one problem at a
time.
> Input was based on punched cards and paper tape.
> Output came out on print-outs.
> They had limited computing capabilities
> They were very expensive
Examples of first generation computers include;

>Mark 1 – developed by Harvard University and IBM

in 1944
>UNIVAC (Universal Automatic computer)
>ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Calculator) - 1946 at University of Pennsylvania
>EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
Computer)- developed by M.V. Wilkes at Cambridge
University in 1949
> EDVAC(Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic
Computer) - developed in 1950
> Whirlwind, developed at Massachussets Institute
of Technology
First Generation Computer - UNIVAC
1956 – 1963: Second Generation – Transistors
>The replacement of vacuum tubes by transistors was the
beginning of the second generation of computing.
>They still relied on punched card for input/printouts.
>They used magnetic disks for secondary storage
>They used high-level languages such as FORTRAN, ALGOL &
COBOL
>The size and cost of the computers got reduced considerably.
>Transistor-driven machines were the first computers to store
instructions into their memories – moving from magnetic drum
to magnetic core ‘technology’.
>The early versions of these machines were developed for the
atomic energy industry.
>Transistors were a smaller than vacuum tubes, despite still
subjecting computers to damaging levels of heat. However
they were hugely superior to the vacuum tubes, making
computers smaller, faster, cheaper and less heavy on
electricity use.
Examples of second generation computers
include;
> IBM 1620
> IBM 1401
> CDC 3600

Features of second generation computers

1. Transistors were used instead of Vacuum
Tube.
2. Processing speed is faster than First
Generation Computers (Micro Second)
3. Smaller in Size (51 square feet)
4. The input and output devices were faster.
Second Generation Computer
1964 – 1971: Third Generation – Integrated
Circuits(ICs)
> This generation was advent by the development of a
small chip consisting of the capacity of the 300
transistors.
> These ICs are popularly known as Chips. A single IC
has many transistors, registers and capacitors built on a
single thin slice of silicon.
> The size of the computer reduced further.
> Higher level language such as BASIC (Beginners All
purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was developed.
> Computers of this generation were small in size, low
cost, large memory and processing speed is very high.
> Later ICs Were replaced by LSI (Large Scale
Integration), which consisted about 100 components.
Examples: IBM-360, IBM-370, and VAX-750.
Features of third generation computers
1. They used Integrated Circuit (IC) chips in place
of the transistors.
2. Semi conductor memory devices were used.
3. The size was greatly reduced, the speed of
processing was high, they were more accurate
and reliable.
4. Large Scale Integration (LSI) and Very Large
Scale Integration (VLSI) were also developed.
5. The mini computers were introduced in this
generation.
6. They used high level language for
programming.
Third Generation Computer
1972 – 2010: Fourth Generation –
Microprocessors
An IC containing about 1000 components is called LSI (Large
Scale Integration) and the one, which has more than 1000
such components, is called as VLSI (Very Large Scale
Integration).
> 4G computers uses large scale Integrated Circuits (LSIC)
built on a single silicon chip called microprocessors (CPU -
chip).
> These computers are called microcomputers. Later very
large scale Integrated Circuits (VLSIC) replaced LSICs.
> Hard disks were used as secondary memory, Keyboards, dot
matrix printers were developed.
> OS(Operating System)-such as MS-DOS, UNIX, Apple’s
Macintosh were available.
> Object oriented language (OOP), C++ etc were developed.
Features of 4G computers
1. They used Microprocessor (VLSI) as their CPU.
2. They are also called as micro computers or PCs
3. Their size varies from desktop to laptop or
palmtop.
4. They have very high speed of processing; they
are 100% accurate, reliable, diligent and
versatile.
5. They have very large storage capacity.

Example: IBM PC, Apple-Macintosh, most

computers today 4G PCs.
Fourth Generation Computer
2010- future : Fifth Generation – Artificial
Intelligence
5th generation computers use ULSI (Ultra-Large Scale
Integration) chips. Millions of transistors are placed in a
single IC in ULSI chips.
64 bit microprocessors have been developed during this
period.
RISC & CISC, both types of designs are used in modern
processors.
Memory chips and flash memory up to 16 GB, hard disks
up to 600 GB & optical disks up to 50 GB have been
developed.
Fifth generation digital computer will be Artificial
intelligence.
> Computer devices with artificial intelligence are
still in development, but some of these technologies
are beginning to emerge and used such as voice
recognition and robotics.
> AI is a reality made possible by using parallel
processing and superconductors. Leaning to the
future, computers will be transformed again by
quantum computation, molecular and nano
technology.
> The essence of fifth generation will be using these
technologies to ultimately create machines which
can process and respond to natural language, and
have capability to learn and organise themselves.
Fifth Generation Computer
 Lesson 3: Role of
Computers in the Society

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t.com

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m