ARIANNE AMANDA ARIFFIN GADAIT ED2202B 2012464494

THE FIVE GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS

First Generation: Vacuum Tubes The first generation of computer uses vacuum tubes as switching device and magnetic drum for memory. These computers are huge, slow and expensive. It uses a lot of electricity and not to mention generates a big amount of heat and hence causes the computers to malfunction. It could only solve one command at a time. First generation computers uses punched cards as input and printers for output display. Examples of first generation computers are UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) and ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer).

ENIAC

UNIVAC

Second Generation: Transistors The second generation of computer uses transistors. Transistors have more advantage than vacuum tubes. Transistors are cheaper, faster and reliable, consume less electricity and are smaller than vacuum tubes. It generated a big amount of heat too, but it was a better option than using vacuum tubes. This generation still uses punched cards and printers for input and output. These second-generation computers use high-level language programming and words as commands. The programming of languages are then developed, which are COBOL (COmmonBusiness-Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translating System).

Transistors.

COBOL Programming

Third Generation: Integrated Circuits (IC) In the third generation of computer, siilicone chips were manufactured hence came the integrated circuit technology. Third generation computers use operating system as the main control. Operating system is an application where it runs many programs at a time, recognizes input from the keyboard, and sends output to the display screen. Instead of the traditional punched cards and printers used in the first generation, this generation uses keyboards and mouse. This generations computer consumes less power and generates less heat and the size is smaller, and its cheaper too.

Integrated Circuit

Example of a third generation computer.

Fourth Generation: Microprocessor In this generation, microprocessor was invented. It is a specialized chip where it can store memory. It is an integrated circuit which contains thousands of transistors, which means that the chip can perform the functions of a central processing unit. There are many advantages of a microprocessor. It is way smaller than ENIAC, faster, reliable and has greater storage capacity.

Microprocessor chip.

Fifth Generation: Present and Beyond These generations of computing devices are still in development and are being tested in laboratories as they are based on artificial intelligence, which is the intelligence of robots or machine. However, there are some applications that are being used today, such as voice recognition. The goal of the computing devices in this generation are that they will be able to respond to natural language input and are capable of

learning and self-organization.

REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12020516/Chapter-1-ICT-and-Society http://panitiaictsmktp.blogspot.com/2012/03/overview-of-ict-evolution-of-ict.html http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/FiveGenerations.asp http://images.google.com/