COMPUTER GENERATIONS | Pak Pakistan

There is continuous advancement going on in computing and computers. Thousands of researchers and scientists are working to improve the performance and user experiences of computers. Historically there have been five major technological developments that changed the way computers operate.

First Generation (1940 to 1956)

• Main technology ? vacuum tubes
• Technology used for memory ? magnetic drums
• Programming language ? machine language, the lowest-level programming language understood by computers
• Input mechanism ? the inputs were relied on punched cards
• Output mechanism ? the outputs of these computers were displayed on printouts
• Drawbacks
  • Very large in size (normally occupied the space of a room)
  • Less energy efficient (used a large amount of energy)
  • Offered less computing functions
  • Produced large amounts of heat
  • Frequent malfunctions
  • More expensive
  • Single tasking (could not perform/solve multiple operations)
• Popular examples of first generation computers include UNIVAC and ENIAC computers. UNIVAC was first sold to US Census Bureau (a business client) in 1951.

?Second Generation (1956-1963)

• Main technology ? transistors (invented in 1947)
• Input and output mechanisms ? ?same as that for the first generation computers.
• Programming languages ? assembly language
• Magnetic core technology was used for memory
• Advantages over first generation ? smaller, faster, cheap, energy efficient and reliable
• First computers were developed for the atomic energy industry.

Third Generation (1964-1971)

• Technology used ? Integrated Circuits (Semiconductors made of transistors placed on silicon chips increased the speed and efficiency)
• Input mechanism ? keyboards
• Output mechanism ? monitors
• User interface ? Operating System
• Main advantages
  • Reduced size
  • Reduced costs
  • Improved user experience
  • Operating systems enable the device to run many different applications
  • Accessible by large public because of their reduced size and costs

Fourth Generation (1971-Present)

• Technology ? Microprocessors (thousands of integrated chips on a single silicon chip)
• First time introduction of Graphical User Interface ? GUI
• First time use of mouse and many other input/output devices
• Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971 was the first widely popular chip. It located central processing unit, memory and input/output controls on a single chip
• First computer for the home users was introduced by IBM in 1981
• Macintosh introduced by Apple in 1984
• Advantages:
  • Small size Size ? The big room size computers of first generation could be accommodated by a single chip in the palm of hand
  • Tremendous decrease in costs and size
  • More user friendly ? easy to use
  • Computing power improved tremendously and this enabled networking of computers and different nodes

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond)

• Technology used ? Artificial Intelligence (still in development)
• Parallel processing and superconductors are being used to make artificial intelligence a reality
• It is highly believe that use of quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will introduce landmark changes in the way computers operate and being used
• Main advantage
  • To make computing devices intelligent enough to understand and respond to natural language
  • Capable of learning and self-organisation
  • To improve computation resources

Source: http://www.pakpakistan.org/computer-generations/

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