INTRODUCTIO
N TO
COMPUTER
BASICS
Generations of
computers
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2026 -
COMPUTER
GENERATIONS
Recap
Define Information
Technology.
Name any two tools used in
the Pre-Mechanical stage.
Why did people move from
the Mechanical stage to the
Electro-Mechanical stage?
State one challenge of the
Digital Age.
Definition of the
computer
A computer is an electronic machine,
devised for performing calculations
and controlling operations that can be
expressed either in logical or
numerical terms
A computer is an electronic device
that accepts data (input), processes it
according to instructions, stores it,
and produces information (output).
CHARACTERISTICS OF
COMPUTER
Speed:process data at an extremely fast rate
Accuracy: Besides efficiency, computer are
accurate as well.
Diligence: Does not suffer form the human
trailts of tiredness and lack of concentration
Reliability: Carries out operations without any
failure.
Storage capability: huge capacity of storing
data
Versatility: It can perform multiple taks
simultaneously with great ease.
Resource sharing: It made the sharing of costly
resources like printer possible.
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
First Generation (1940-56)
: Vacuum Tube
1First Generation (1940-56) :
Vacuum Tube
First generation computer were vacuum
tubes/thermionic value based machines
these
computers used vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for
memory.
Input was based on punched cards and
paper tape and output was in the form
of printouts.
For example: ENIAC, EDVAC AND
UNIVAC.
Characteristics of First
Generation Computers.
vacuum tube technology based
Fastest computing devices of their
time.
large, and required a lot of space for
installation.
non-portable and very slow
equipments.
Second Generations
(1956-63): Transistors
Second Generations
(1956-63): Transistors
A transistor is made up of
semiconductor material like
germanium and silicon.
It usually had three leads and
performed electrical functions such
as voltage, current or power
amplification with low power
requirement.
PDP – 8 , IBM 1401 and IBM 7090
Characterstics of Second
Generation Computer.
These machines were based on
transistor technology
These were smaller as
compared to the first
generation computers.
These were more portable and
generated less amount of heat.
Third Generation (1964 –
Early 1970), Integrated
Circuits
Third Generation (1964 – Early
1970), Integrated Circuits
lled an ic, an integrated circuit consists of a single
chip with many components such as
transistors and resistors fabricated on it.
Integrated circuit replaced several individually
wired transistor. This development made
computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users
interacted with third generation computers
through keyboards and monitors and interfaced
with operating system.
For example : NCR 395 and B6500
Characteristic of Third
Generation Computer
These computers were based on integrated circuit (ic)
technology.
They were able to reduce computational time from micro
seconds to nano seconds.
Extensive use of high – level language became possible
Fourth Generation (Early
(1970 – Till Date)
Microprocessors)
Fourth Generation (Early (1970
– Till Date) Microprocessors)
Still based on the intergrated circuit, these have been
made readily available to use because of the
development of the microprocessor.
This led to an era of large scale integration (LSI) and
very large scale integration (vlsi) technology. LSI
technology allowed thousands of transistors to be
constructed on one small slice of silicon material
whereas vlsi squeezed hundreds of thousands of
components on to a single ewp
ULTRA – large scale integration (ULSI) increased that
number into millions the fourth generation computer
became more powerful compact, reliable and affordable.
For example: apple ii, attair 8800 and CRAY-1
Characteristics of Fourth
Generation Computers
Fourth generation computers are microprocessor based
systems
These computers are very small
GUI an d pointing devices enable users to learn to use the
computer quickly
Interconnection of computers leads to better communication
and resource sharing
Fifth Generation
(Present and Beyond):
Artificial Intelligence
Fifth Generation (Present and
Beyond): Artificial Intelligence
A computer would learn from its mistakes
and possess the skill of experts the starting
point for the fifth generation of computers
has been set in the early 1990.
The expert system is a computer information
system that attempts to mimic the thought
process and reasoning of experts
in specific areas three characteristics can be
identified with the fifth generation computer
these are.
Fifth Generation (Present and
Beyond): Artificial Intelligence
Mega chips
Fifth generation computers will use super large scale integrated
(SLSI) chips, which will
result in the production of microprocessor having millions of
electronic components on a single chip
Parallel processing
A computer using parallel processing accesses several instructions
at once and works on
them at the same time through use of multiple central processing
units.
Artificial intelligence: (AI)
AI comprises a group of related technologies expert systems (ES),
natural language
processing (NLP) speech recognition, vision recognition and robotics.
Conclusion
Recap
Define Information
Technology.
Name any two tools used in
the Pre-Mechanical stage.
Why did people move from
the Mechanical stage to the
Electro-Mechanical stage?
State one challenge of the
Digital Age.
THANKYOU