Computer Generations PDF

COMPUTER GENERATIONS  First Generation – 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes  Second Generation – 1956-1962: Transistors  Third Generation - 1963-1971: Integrated Circuits  Fourth Generation – 1971-1989: Microprocessor  Fifth Generation – Present : Artificial Intelligence  FIRST-GENERATION COMPUTERS...

COMPUTER GENERATIONS  First Generation – 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes  Second Generation – 1956-1962: Transistors  Third Generation - 1963-1971: Integrated Circuits  Fourth Generation – 1971-1989: Microprocessor  Fifth Generation – Present : Artificial Intelligence  FIRST-GENERATION COMPUTERS (1940 - 1956) Machines were built by vacuum tubes. First generation computers relied on machine language. Single Tasking: They could only solve one problem at a time.  Input was based on punch cards.  Output was displayed on printouts.  The UNIVAC-1 and ENIAC computers are examples of first- generation computing device.  The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer delivered to a business client.  First-generations computers were mainly used for scientific computations.  CHARACTERISTICS OF 1st - GENERATION COMPUTERS  They were fastest calculating devices of their time.  They were too bulky in size, requiring large rooms for installation.  Thousands of vacuum tubes, which were used, emitted large amount of heat and burnt out frequently. Hence, the rooms/areas in which these computers were located had to be properly air-conditioned.  Each vacuum tube consumed about half a watt of power.  AGE CONCLUSION  Vacuum tubes were used – basic arithmetic operations took few milliseconds.  Bulky/heavy volume.  Consume more power with limited performance.  High cost.  Uses assembly language “low level language” – to prepare programs. These were translated into machine level language for execution.  Punch cards are used to feed programs, data and to get results.  Mainly used for scientific calculations.  SECOND – GENERATION COMPUTERS (1956 - 1963)  Second generation computers were manufactured using transistors instead of vacuum tubes.  Second generation computers were more powerful, more reliable, less expensive, smaller, and cooler to operate.  Magnetic tape were the main secondary storage media used in 2nd generations computers.  ON SOFTWARE FRONT: The 2nd generations computer saw the emergence of high-level programming languages and batch operating systems.  FORTAN, COBOL, ALGOL and SNOBOL were developed during the 2nd generation period, due to it, it becomes easier to write programs on computer.  In the 2nd generations period an increasing usage of computers was seen in business and industry for commercial data processing applications like payroll, inventory control, marketing and production planning.  CHARACTERISTICS OF 2nd - GENERATION COMPUTERS  They were more than 10 times faster than the first-generation computers.  They were much smaller than first-generation computers, requiring smaller space.  Although the heat dissipation was much less than 1st- generation computers, the room/areas in which the 2nd – generation computers were located had to be properly air conditioned.  They consumed much less power than the 1st-generation computers.  They had faster and larger storage as compared to 1st-generation computers.  They were much easier to program and use than the 1st – generation computers.  AGE CONCLUSION  Lower cost as compare to 1st generation computers.  Magnetic random access non-volatile memory were used a main memory.  Magnetic tapes were used as secondary memory.  High level languages such as FORTAN, COBOL were used.  Compiler were developed to translate high-level program into corresponding machine language.  10 fold increase the speed.  It used in business, industry and commercial organizations for preparation of payroll, inventory control, marketing, production planning, research, scientific & engineering analysis and design etc.  THIRD – GENERATION COMPUTERS (1963 - 1975)  The development of the integrated circuit (IC) was the hallmark of the third generation of computers.  ICs are circuits consisting of several electronic components like transistors, resistors and capacitors grown on a single chip of silicon. Eliminating wired interconnection b/w components.  ICs were much smaller, less expensive, and reliable, faster in operation, dissipated less heat and consumed much less power.  Parallel advancements in storage technologies allowed the construction of larger magnetic based random access memory and larger capacity magnetic disks/Hard disk.  Hence, the 3rd – generation computers typically had few megabytes (less than 5 MB) of main memory, and magnetic disks capable of storing few tens of MB of data per disk.  The development and introduction of minicomputers also took place during the 3rd – generation period. The computers built until the early 1960s were mainframe systems, which only very large companies could afford to purchase and use. ON SOFTWARE FRONT:  The 3rd – generation saw the emergence of high-level programming, multi user operating systems UNIX and creation of an independent software industry.  UNIX is a multi-user OS able to perform many tasks.  UNIX is written in C language.  UNIX OS was designed to let a number of programmers access the computer at the same time and share its resources.  FORTAN and COBOL, which were the most popular high-level programming language in those days, were standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1966 and these standards are followed in program writing.  A FORTAN or a COBOL program could be run on any computer with an ANSI FORTAN or ANSI COBOL compiler.  Additionally more high-level programming languages were introduced during the 3rd period. Notable among were PL/1, PASCAL and BASIC.  The first GUI (Graphical User Interface) was designed for Alto computer system.  CHARACTERISTICS OF 3rd - GENERATION COMPUTERS  They were much more powerful than the 2nd – generation computers. They were capable of performing about 1 million instructions per second.  They were much smaller than 2nd generation computer.  Although the heat dissipation was much less than 2nd - generation computers, the room/areas in which the 3rd – generation computers were located had to be properly air conditioned.  They consumed much less power than the 2nd generation computers.  They had faster and larger primary and secondary storage as compared to 2nd – generation computers.  They were totally general-purpose machines suitable for both scientific and commercial applications.  Standardization of high-level programming language allowed programs written for one computer to be easily ported to and executed on another computer.  AGE CONCLUSION  ICs were used.  SSI and MSI technology were introduced.  Smaller and better in performance.  Comparatively lesser cost.  (RAM & ROM).  Parallel processing (multiprocessor system etc), multi-user system (time-shared systems) were introduced.  Cache memories were introduced (Cache memory makes the main memory appear faster than it really is.)  High-level languages were standardized by ANSI.  In third generation, users interact with computers through keyboards, monitors and interfaced with an Operating System.  FOURTH – GENERATION COMPUTERS (1975 - 1989)  The microprocessor brought the fourth – generation of computers.  The average number of electronic components packed on a silicon chip doubled each year after 1965.  A microprocessor contains all the circuits needed to perform arithmetic, logic and control functions, the core activities of all computers, on a single chip.  During the 4th – generation, capacity of random access memories were increased with very fast access time.  Hard disks become cheaper, smaller and larger in capacity.  Floppy disks became very popular as a portable medium for porting programs and data from one computer systems to another.  Another significant development during the 4th – generation period was the spread of high-speed computer networking, which enabled multiple computers to be connected together, to enable them to communicate and share data.  ON SOFTWARE FRONT: Several new operating systems were developed for PCs. Notable among these were MS DOS, MS- Windows and Apple’s propriety OS.  Several new PC-based applications were also developed to make the PCs a powerful tool. E.g. word processing packages, spreadsheet packages and graphical packages.  During the 4th- generation period, the UNIX OS and C programming language also become very popular.  CHARACTERISTICS OF 4th - GENERATION COMPUTERS  The PCs were smaller and cheaper than the mainframe or minicomputers of the 3rd generations.  The mainframes were much more powerful than the 3rd generation systems.  They consumed much less power than the 3rd generation computers.  They had faster and larger primary and secondary storage as compared to 3rd generation computers.  Use of standard high-level programming languages allowed programs written for one computer to be easily ported to and executed on another computer.  GUI enabled new users to quickly learn how to use computers.  PC-based applications made the PCs a powerful tool for both office and home usage.  Network of computers enabled sharing of resources like disks, printers etc among multiple computers and their users.  The PCs of the 4th generation make computers affordable even by individuals for their personal use at home.  FIFTH – GENERATION COMPUTERS (1989 - PRESENT)  5th generations computers is start from 1989 to date, with Artificial intelligence. AI is also known Robotics.  This generation of computers being designed to expand the use of artificial intelligence, natural language, expert system and online social networks.  AI – is an area in computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines and software's that work and react like humans.  The trend of further miniaturization of electronic components, the dramatic increase in the power of microprocessor chips, and the capacity of main memory and hard disk continues in the 5th generation.  The VLSI technology became ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) technology, resulting in the production of microprocessor chips, having 10 million electronic components.  In fact, the speed of microprocessors and the size of main memory and hard disk doubled almost every 18th month.  Due to this fast pace of advancement in computer technology more powerful computers being introduced almost every year, at more or less the same price or even cheaper.  portable notebook computers, which give the power of a PC to their users even while travelling.  Powerful desktop PCs and workstations, powerful servers and very powerful supercomputers.  Optical disks also emerged as a popular portable mass storage media. They are commonly known as CD-ROM (Compact Disk – Read Only memory). The data is only read (not written/modified).  During the 5th generation period, there was tremendous outgrowth of computer network. Communication technologies become faster day-by-day, and more and more computers were networked together. This trend resulted in the emergence and popularity of the internet and associated technologies and applications.  CHARACTERISTICS OF 5th GENERATION COMPUTERS  Portable PCs (called notebook computers) are much more handy and smaller than the PCs of the 4th generation.  The desktop PCs and workstations are several times more powerful than the PCs of the 4th generation.  The mainframes are several times more powerful than the mainframe systems of the 4th generation.  They consume much less power than their predecessors.  They are more reliable and less prone to hardware failures than their predecessors.  They have faster and larger primary and secondary storage as compared to their predecessors.  Use of standard high-level programming languages allows programs written for one computer to be easily ported to and executed on another computer.  More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia features make the system easier to learn and use by anyone.  The explosion in the size of the internet, coupled with internet- based tools and application have made these systems influenced the life of even common men and women.  SOME POPULAR SYSTEM OF GENERATIONS  First-Generation popular systems: ENIAC, UNIVAC 1, IBM 701  Second-Generation popular systems: Honeywell 400, IBM 7030, CDC 1604, UNIVAC LARC  Third-Generation popular systems: IBM 360/370, PDP-8, PDP-11, CDC 6600  Fourth-Generation popular systems: IBM PC and its clones, Apple II, TRS-80, VAX 9000, CRAY -1, CRAY-2, CRAY-X/MP  Fifth-Generation popular systems: IBM notebooks, Pentium PCs, SUN workstations, IBM SP/2, SGI origin 2000, PARAM 10000