THE FIVE GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
1. FIRST
GENERATION OF COMPUTER (VACUUM TUBE - 1940-1956)
ENIAC,
short for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was the first
general-purpose electronic computer which was
developed by the two scientists namely John Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchy.
It was the beginning of first generation of computer. ENIAC was a very huge and
big computer and its weight was 30 tones.
Examples of first generation of computers include ENIAC, EDSAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 650, and IBM 608. These machines had vacuum tubes, resistors, punched-card punched-tape input and output devices and RAM’s.
FEATURES OF FIRST GENERATION COMPUTER
a)
They used vacuum tubes technology.
b)
They are big in size.
c)
They consume more power with
limited performance.
d)
They are very expensive.
e)
They were limited in numbers.
f)
Instructions were coded in machine
language.
g)
They are difficult for programming
h)
Their operating instructions were
for only one machine
2. SECOND GENERATION OF
COMPUTER (TRANSISTORS 1956-1963)
As the development moved further, the
second generation computers knocked the door. In this generation, transistors
were used as the electronic component instead of vacuum tubes. A transistor is
much smaller in size than that of a vacuum tube. As the size of electrons
components decreased from vacuum tube of transistor, the size of computer also
decreased and it became much smaller than that of earlier computer.
The second generation of computer
replaced machine language with assembly language. Assembly language was much
easier than the machine language (binary code). In Second generation of
computers, computer memory became larger. Programs were stored inside the
computer’s memory. High-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented
Language), ALGOL (ALGOrithmn Language), and FORTRAIN (Formula Translator) were
used.
Examples of second
generation of computers includes: ATLAS and IBM’s 1401, 1790, 704, 709
and 7094; UNIVAC 1004 and CDC 160.
FEATURES OF SECOND GENERATION
a)
Transistors were used in place of
vacuum tubes.
b)
Small in size.
c)
Less power consumption and better
performance.
d)
Lower cost.
e)
Instructions were coded (written)
in assembly language.
f)
Instructions were written in high
level language.
g)
They had limited internal storage.
h) They were faster and more reliable than first generation of computer
3. THIRD GENERATION OF COMPUTERS (INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
1964-1971)
The third generation computers were
invented in the year 1964. In this generation of computer, IC (Integrated circuits)
was used as the electronic component for computers. The development of IC gave
birth to a new field of micro-electronics. The main advantage of IC is not only
its small size but its superior performance and reliability than the previous
circuits. It was first developed by T.S Kilby.
In third generation
computers, Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third
generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central program that
monitored the memory.
Examples of third
generation of computers include: ICL 1900, IBM 360/370, Honeywell 200 series, CDC 6000, and UNIVAC
1100.
FEATURES OF THIRD GENERATION
a)
They used Integrated circuits
technology.
b)
Smaller & better performance.
c)
They generate lesser amount of heat.
d)
Faster processors and more reliable.
e)
Instructions were coded in high
level languages.
f)
They were less expensive to buy.
g)
It witnessed the development of
minicomputers
h)
Operating system software were
introduced (efficient sharing of a computer system by several user programs).
i) Introduced microprogramming.
4. FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTER (1971-80’S) MICROPROCESSORS
This is the generation computer where we
are working today. The computers which we see around us belong to the fourth
generation computers. ‘Micro processor’ is the main concept behind this
generation of computer. A microprocessor is a single chip (L.S.I circuit),
which is used in a computer for any arithmetical or logical functions to be
performed in any program. The honour of developing microprocessor goes to Ted
Hoff of U.S.A. He developed first
micro-processor, the Intel 4004, as he was working for Intel Corporation.
As these small
computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet.
Examples of fourth
generations of computers includes: Intel’s
8088, 80286, 80386, 80486, Motorola’s 68000, 68030, 68040, Apple II, CRAY
I/2/X/MP, Pentium I, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Pentium M, Giga Pro,
Celeron, etc.
FEATURES OF FOURTH GENERATION
a)
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screen,
laser & ink jet printers, scanners etc were developed.
b)
Semiconductor memory chips were
used as the main memory.
c)
Secondary memory was composed of
hard disks, Floppy disks & magnetic tapes were used for backup memory.
d)
Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide
Area Networks (WANS) were developed (where desktop workstations interconnected).
e)
Introduced Graphical User Interface
(GUI).
f)
Introduced C language and Unix OS.
g)
Less power consumption.
h)
High performance, lower cost and
very compact.
i) Much increase in the speed of operation.
5. FIFTH GENERATION OF COMPUTERS (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - PRESENT AND BEYOND)
Fifth
generation computing devices is based on artificial intelligence, they are
still in development even though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are
being used today. Artificial intelligence is the term used to link human
behaviour and characteristics in man-made machines. Scientist have been, and
still are trying to build machines that can learn, speak, have emotions and
reasons in the same methods human can do. The purpose now is to make computers
that can take decisions in various situations so that non-living things, like
robot, can think and act like human can do.
Examples of fifth generation of computers includes: IBM
notebooks, Pentium PCs-Pentium 1/2/3/4/Dual core/Quad core, SUN work stations,
Origin 2000, PARAM 10000, IBM SP/2, Wallet PC, virtual reality, linux watch
etc.
FEATURES OF FIFTH GENERATION
a)
Computers were invented based on
artificial intelligence.
b)
High speed of operations.
c)
They can take decision.
d)
Object oriented language like JAVA
suitable for internet programming has been developed.
e)
Portable notebook computers were
introduced
f)
Storage technology advanced e.g.
large main memory and disk storage available
g) New operating systems developed e.g. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and 8, LINUX, etc.