Generations of Computer
GENERATION OF COMPUTERS:
The first electronic computer was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania based on vacuum tube technology. Vacuum tubes were used to perform logic operations and to store data. Generations of computers has been divided into five according to the development of technologies used to fabricate the processors, memories and I/O units.
First Generation of Computers : 1945 – 55 (Vacuum Tubes):
First Generation (ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)
(EDSAC – Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator)
(EDVAC – Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
(UNIVAC – Universal Automatic Computer IBM 701)
1. Vacuum tubes were used – basic arithmetic operations took few milliseconds.
2. Bulky.
3. Consume more power with limited performance.
4. High cost.
5. Uses assembly language – to prepare programs.
6. These were translated into machine level language for execution.
7. Mercury delay line memories and Electrostatic memories were used.
8. Fixed point arithmetic was used.
9. 100 to 1000 fold increase in speed relative to the earlier mechanical and relay based electromechanical technology.
10. Punched cards and paper tape were invented to feed programs and data and to get results.
11. Magnetic tape / magnetic drum were used as secondary memory.
Second Generation Computers:(1955-1965) TRANSISTORS
1. As commercial interest in computer technology intensified during the late 1950s and 1960s, the second generation of computer technology was introduced—based not on vacuum tubes but on transistors.
2. By 1948 it was obvious to many that the transistor would probably replace the vacuum tube in devices such as radios, television sets, and computers.
3. One of the first computing machines based on the transistor was the Philco Corporation's Transac S-2000 in 1958. IBM soon followed with the transistor-based IBM 7090.
4. These second generation machines were programmed in languages such as COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) and were used for a wide variety of business and scientific tasks. Magnetic disks and tape were often used for data storage.
Third Generation Computers (1965-1975): INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
The third generation of computer technology was based on integrated circuit technology and the integrated circuit in 1959. The integrated circuit is a single device that contains many transistors.
Arguably the most important machine built during this period was the IBM System/360. Some say that this machine single handedly introduced the third generation. It was not simply a new computer but a new approach to computer design. It introduced a single computer architecture over a range or family of devices. In other words, a program designed to run on one machine in the family could also run on all of the others. IBM spent approximately $5 billion to develop the System/360.
Fourth Generation Computers (1975-1989) (MICROPROCESSORS)
A Computer built using Very Large Scale Integration as Integrated Circuits,especially a micro computer based on a micro processor or a parallel processor containing two to thousands of CPU's.
VLSI is made to routine to fabricate an entire CPU,main memory or a similar device with single integrated circuit that can be mass produced at a lower cost. This as resulted in new classes of machines personal computers and high performance parallel processors that contains thousands of CPU's.
Fifth Generation Computers (1989- Present) (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
The Fifth Generation Computer Systems [Present and Beyond] (FGCS) was an initiative by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to create a computer using massively parallel computing/processing. It was to be the result of a massive government/industry research project in Japan during the 1980s. It aimed to create an "epoch-making computer" with supercomputer-like performance and to provide a platform for future developments in artificial intelligence. There was also an unrelated Russian project also named as an fifth-generation computer.
"As part of Japan's effort to become a leader in the computer industry, the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology has launched a revolutionary ten-year plan for the development of large computer systems which will be applicable to knowledge information processing systems. These Fifth Generation computers will be built around the concepts of logic programming. In order to refute the accusation that Japan exploits knowledge from abroad without contributing any of its own, this project will stimulate original research and will make its results available to the international research community."
GENERATION OF COMPUTERS:
The first electronic computer was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania based on vacuum tube technology. Vacuum tubes were used to perform logic operations and to store data. Generations of computers has been divided into five according to the development of technologies used to fabricate the processors, memories and I/O units.
First Generation of Computers : 1945 – 55 (Vacuum Tubes):
First Generation (ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)
(EDSAC – Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator)
(EDVAC – Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
(UNIVAC – Universal Automatic Computer IBM 701)
1. Vacuum tubes were used – basic arithmetic operations took few milliseconds.
2. Bulky.
3. Consume more power with limited performance.
4. High cost.
5. Uses assembly language – to prepare programs.
6. These were translated into machine level language for execution.
7. Mercury delay line memories and Electrostatic memories were used.
8. Fixed point arithmetic was used.
9. 100 to 1000 fold increase in speed relative to the earlier mechanical and relay based electromechanical technology.
10. Punched cards and paper tape were invented to feed programs and data and to get results.
11. Magnetic tape / magnetic drum were used as secondary memory.
Second Generation Computers:(1955-1965) TRANSISTORS
1. As commercial interest in computer technology intensified during the late 1950s and 1960s, the second generation of computer technology was introduced—based not on vacuum tubes but on transistors.
2. By 1948 it was obvious to many that the transistor would probably replace the vacuum tube in devices such as radios, television sets, and computers.
3. One of the first computing machines based on the transistor was the Philco Corporation's Transac S-2000 in 1958. IBM soon followed with the transistor-based IBM 7090.
4. These second generation machines were programmed in languages such as COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) and were used for a wide variety of business and scientific tasks. Magnetic disks and tape were often used for data storage.
Third Generation Computers (1965-1975): INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
The third generation of computer technology was based on integrated circuit technology and the integrated circuit in 1959. The integrated circuit is a single device that contains many transistors.
Arguably the most important machine built during this period was the IBM System/360. Some say that this machine single handedly introduced the third generation. It was not simply a new computer but a new approach to computer design. It introduced a single computer architecture over a range or family of devices. In other words, a program designed to run on one machine in the family could also run on all of the others. IBM spent approximately $5 billion to develop the System/360.
During the third generation of computers, the central processor was constructed by using many integrated circuits. It was not until the fourth generation that an entire processor would be placed on a single silicon chip—smaller than a postage stamp.
Fourth Generation Computers (1975-1989) (MICROPROCESSORS)
A Computer built using Very Large Scale Integration as Integrated Circuits,especially a micro computer based on a micro processor or a parallel processor containing two to thousands of CPU's.
VLSI is made to routine to fabricate an entire CPU,main memory or a similar device with single integrated circuit that can be mass produced at a lower cost. This as resulted in new classes of machines personal computers and high performance parallel processors that contains thousands of CPU's.
Fifth Generation Computers (1989- Present) (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
The Fifth Generation Computer Systems [Present and Beyond] (FGCS) was an initiative by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to create a computer using massively parallel computing/processing. It was to be the result of a massive government/industry research project in Japan during the 1980s. It aimed to create an "epoch-making computer" with supercomputer-like performance and to provide a platform for future developments in artificial intelligence. There was also an unrelated Russian project also named as an fifth-generation computer.
"As part of Japan's effort to become a leader in the computer industry, the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology has launched a revolutionary ten-year plan for the development of large computer systems which will be applicable to knowledge information processing systems. These Fifth Generation computers will be built around the concepts of logic programming. In order to refute the accusation that Japan exploits knowledge from abroad without contributing any of its own, this project will stimulate original research and will make its results available to the international research community."
The term "fifth generation" was intended to convey the system as being a leap beyond existing machines. In the history of computing hardware, computers using vacuum tubes were called the first generation; transistors and diodes, the second; integrated circuits, the third; and those using microprocessors, the fourth. Whereas previous computer generations had focused on increasing the number of logic elements in a single CPU, the fifth generation, it was widely believed at the time, would instead turn to massive numbers of CPUs for added performance.
The project was to create the computer over a ten-year period, after which it was considered ended and investment in a new "sixth generation" project would begin. Opinions about its outcome are divided: either it was a failure, or it was ahead of its time.There are many examples for fifth generation of computers.
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