Computer
generations
Computer generations
The generation of computer means the gap
between the development of the computer
in terms of the technologies. Each
generation of computer is characterized by
a major technologies development that
fundamentally changed the way computer
operate, resulting, smaller, cheaper and
more powerful, efficient and reliable device.
Ist generation
2nd generation
3rd Generation
4th generation
5th generation
Ist Generation (1944-1958)
Used thousand of vacuum tubes
They were fastest calculating devices.
Too large in size
Large amount of heat due to thousands of
vacuum tubes, so air conditioning was
required
High power consumption
Frequent hardware failure due to burn out of
tubes
Costly to manufacture and maintain these
computers
The first computer using vacuum tubes was
ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator And
Computer)
ENIAC
UNIAC (universal (Electronic
Automatic Numerical
computer) Integrator
and
calculator
2ND GENERATION (1959 - 1964)
Use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes
These transistors were made of solid material, some of
which
is silicon, therefore they were very cheap to produce
Easier to use and handle
No burning out, but hardware failures were still there
Almost ten times faster than tubes
Much smaller than vacuum tubes and generate less
heat.
Less expensive to produce but still costlier
Produce less heat as compared to tubes but air
Conditioning was required
High level programming languages such as
FORTRAN, COBOL were used
Easier to program these computers
Batch operating system was used
3RD GENERATION (1964 - 1970)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
In 1958, Jack St. Clair Kilby & Robert Noyce invented
integrated circuits
IC’s consist of several electric components like
transistors, resistors and capacitors embedded on
a
single chip of silicon
SSI(Small Scale Integration), MSI(Medium Scale
integration) technology
More powerful & faster than second generation
computers.
Smaller in size and require small space for
installation
Require less power and produce less heat but still
need proper air conditioning
3RD GENERATION (1964 - 1970)
continue……
4TH GENERATION (1971- PRESENT)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
Use of IC’s with VLSI technology Very Large-scale integrated
(VLSI).
Microprocessors and semiconductor memory
Larger memory because of larger hard disks and floppy
disks and magnetic tapes as portable storage media
Very less heat hence no air conditioning was required
instead fans were used.
Graphical User Interface operating systems were used
Very easy to manufacture & maintain them and cost very less
Very fast as compared to computers in early generations
Microprocessors led to the invention of personal computers.
4TH GENERATION (1971- PRESENT)
continue
5th GENERATION
PRESENT & BEYOND
IC’s based on ULSI technology
Portable PC’s (notebook computers) were much smaller And
handy
Much faster and powerful than computers in earlier
generations
Consume very less power
Less costlier and easy to manufacture and maintain
Newer and more powerful applications make computers
more easy to use in every field
Artificial Intelligence (AI) concerns with making computers
behave and think like humans.
AI studies include robotics, expert systems, games, etc..
5th GENERATION
continue…..
Power on self
test(POST)
When you turn on a computer, it goes
through several steps to prepare itself for
use. The first step is called the power-on
self test (post). The computer identifies
the devices attached to it, identifies the
amount of memory available, and does a
quick check to see whether the memory is
functioning properly . this routine is
initiated by a part of the system software
located in read-only memory (ROM), a chip
that contain brief , permanent instructions
for starting the computer.
The startup process
step Source of instruction Type of instruction
1 Rom System self check
2 Hard disk System software
loaded into memory
3 User Control hardware by
issuing operating
system commands or
loads an application
from a disk