Generations of Computers

You are familiar with using computers and know how it helps you in finishing your work quickly. But do you know how computers evolved?

The mechanical computer was invented by ”Charles Babbage“.This computer called the Babbage’s Analytical Engine performed mathematical functions .After invention of the first mechanical computer,there were constant developments in the world of computers .These developments led to classify computers as :

1. The First Generation Computers
2. The Second Generation Computers
3. The Third Generation Computers
4. The Fourth Generation Computers
5. The Fifth Generation Computers

The First Generation Computer (1940-1956)

The first generation also called the Vaccum tube era.A vaccum tube is an electronic switch.Vaccum tubes were expensive ,bulky and used a lot of power .The computer that used vaccum tubes were called First generation Copmuters.These computers were huge ,occupied several rooms and produced a lot of heat.They were extremely slow and were giving problems frequently.

The Second generation Computers (1956-1963)

The second generation is also called the transister era..Transistor that were more efficient and cheaper replaced vaccum tubes .William Shockley and others of Bell Labs, U.S.A invented transistors. The computers that used transistors were called the second generation computers these computers were smaller in size and or not very costly these computers were much faster and more depend able in those in the first generation.

The Third generation computers(1963-1970)

the third generation is also called the integrated circuit era in this generation there was a major change thousands of transistors were successfully connected together and placed on a single silicon chip called the integrated circuit IC sometimes there were more than one layer of such circuits these were called large scale integrated LSI circuits the size and the cost of these computers decrease and their speed and efficiency increases one of the early integrated circuits like that

The Fourth generation computers (1970 present

the fourth generation is also called the microprocessor ero. With the introduction of VLSI very large scale integration technology millions of transistors could be placed on a single chip the computers that used VLSI chips were called the 4th generation computers microprocessor a single zip that could do all the processing of a full scale computer was also invented in the year 1972 this lead to a further decrease in the cost of the computers

The Fifth generation computers (present and future)

recent research has focus on developing thinking computers these computers are called 5th generation computers artificial intelligence

Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.