Generation

GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER
Toor Gul, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, GPGC Charsadda

Generations of Computer
With passage of time several changes were made to computer technology in order to meet the challenges
of the age.
Different technologies are used to make computer in different period. Modifications were classified into
different periods. These periods were named as Generation of computers.
“ Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is being used.”
Initially, the generation term was used to distinguish between varying hardware technologies. Nowadays,
generation includes both hardware and software, which together make up an entire computer system.
 There are five computer generations known till date.

First Generation of computer (1946 - 1959)
The main features of the first generation computers are listed below:
1. Vacuum tube technology were used in electronic circuits designing.
2. Punch card were used for input/output.
3. Batch processing operating system were used.
4. First generation computer used machine code as programming language.
5. Magnetic tapes were used as secondary storage devices.
6. Huge size
7. Very costly
8. Generated a lot of heat
9. Non portable
10. Consumed a lot of electricity
11. Slow input and output devices
12. Unreliabl
Examples of computers in 1st Generation
Some examples of computer of this generation were:
 ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)
 EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
 UNIVAC ( UNIVersal Automatic Computer)

Second Generation of computer (1959 - 1965)
The features of the second generation computers are listed below:
1. Use of transistors
2. Punch card were used as an input device.
3. Magnetic tapes were used for storage.
4. Smaller size computer as compared to first generation computers.
5. Generate less heat as compared to first generation computer.
6. Consume less electricity as compared to first generation computers.
7. Faster than first generation computers
8. Still very costly
9. Supported machine and assembly language

Examples of computers in 2nd Generation
Some example of computer of the second generation were:
 IBM 1620
 IBM 7094
 CDC 1604
 CDC 3600
Third Generation of computer (1965 - 1970)
The features of this generation computers are listed below:
1. IC (Integrated Circuit) replaced transistors.
2. IC were smaller in size and had better performance than transistors
3. Keyboard and monitors were used as Input and output devices.
4. More reliable in comparison to previous two generations
5. Generate less heat
6. High level languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL, PASCAL, BASIC, ALGOL etc were used
during this Generation.
7. Faster
8. Costly
Examples of computers in 3rd Generation
Some example of computer of this generation were:
 IBM 360 Series
 PDP
 IBM 370 etc

Fourth Generation of computer (1970 - 1980)

1. LSI (Large Scale Integration), VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) and ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration)
technology used
2. Very cheap
3. Portable and reliable
4. Use of PCs
5. Small size
6. Keyboard and Monitors were used as input and output devices.
7. Concept of internet was introduced.
8. Great development in the field of computer networks.
9. Computer were easily available.
10. High level languages like C, C++ etc were used in this generation
Examples of computers in 4th Generation
 Some example of computer of this generation were
 DEC 10
 PDP 11
 STAR 1000
 CRAY – 1
Fifth Generation of Computer (1980 - onward)

1. Computer capable of reasoning, learning and behaving in ways like humans.
2. Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
3. Advancement in parallel processing
4. Software was proliferated and got much cheaper.
5. Hardware continued to shrink in size while memory increased dramatically.
6. Voice recognition, the ability for a machine to understand and obey spoken English, was also
introduced.
7. Industrial and personal robots replaced human being.
8. Expert system programs promoted the knowledge of experts and consultants such as doctors, lawyers,
teachers etc.
Examples of Computers in 5th Generation
Some example of computer of this generation were:
 PC
 Laptop
 Tablets
 Notebook etc
 Smart Phones

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GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER

Toor Gul, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, GPGC Charsadda

different periods. These periods were named as Generation of computers.

“ Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is being used.”

 There are five computer generations known till date.

2. Punch card were used for input/output.

3. Batch processing operating system were used.

4. First generation computer used machine code as programming language.

5. Magnetic tapes were used as secondary storage devices.

8. Generated a lot of heat

10. Consumed a lot of electricity

11. Slow input and output devices

Some examples of computer of this generation were:

 ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator)

 EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)

 UNIVAC ( UNIVersal Automatic Computer)

2. Punch card were used as an input device.

3. Magnetic tapes were used for storage.

4. Smaller size computer as compared to first generation computers.

5. Generate less heat as compared to first generation computer.

6. Consume less electricity as compared to first generation computers.

7. Faster than first generation computers

8. Still very costly

9. Supported machine and assembly language

Some example of computer of the second generation were:

1. IC (Integrated Circuit) replaced transistors.

2. IC were smaller in size and had better performance than transistors

3. Keyboard and monitors were used as Input and output devices.

4. More reliable in comparison to previous two generations

5. Generate less heat

Some example of computer of this generation were:

 IBM 360 Series

 IBM 370 etc

The features of this generation computers are listed below:

3. Portable and reliable

6. Keyboard and Monitors were used as input and output devices.

7. Concept of internet was introduced.

8. Great development in the field of computer networks.

9. Computer were easily available.

 Some example of computer of this generation were

The features of this generation computers are listed below:

2. Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

3. Advancement in parallel processing

4. Software was proliferated and got much cheaper.

5. Hardware continued to shrink in size while memory increased dramatically.

7. Industrial and personal robots replaced human being.

Some example of computer of this generation were:

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