We often discuss the history of computers development with respect to the different generations of computing devices. Computer was not invented in one day. It developed over many generations.
In computer terminology, the term generation means a stage or phase of technology development or innovation.
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The development of computers took place in different stages or phases is called generation of computers. Each generation of computer has its own characteristics based on the use of a specific technology.
A leading technological development makes the computer smaller, cheaper, more powerful, more efficient, and reliable. Now computers have become an integral part of our lives.
They are used in almost all aspects of our daily routine, from communication, education, entertainment to healthcare.
In this tutorial, we will take a detailed look at the generation of computers, starting from the zeroth generation to the latest computer generations.
Zeroth Generation of Computers (1642 – 1946)
The invention of mainly mechanical computers started the zeroth generation of computers. In 1642, a French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, invented the first automatic mechanical computer named Pascaline.
He made this calculating device for his father to calculate taxes. In this machine, a user entered the numbers by dialing a series of number wheels.
When a wheel made a complete turn, it transferred the movement to a dial and the indicator above the dial shown the right answer.
In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the punched card. This card contains holes in specific locations that a computer or other machine can read.
In 1822, an English mathematician, Charles Babbage, invented a computer machine named Difference Engine to compute tables of numbers for naval navigation.
Later, in 1834, Babbage invented the world’s first general-purpose digital computer named Analytic Engine. This computer machine had five components: Input, Output, Store, Mill, and Control. He used all the basic components of the modern computer. Therefore, Charles Babbage is known as the father of computer.
In later years, Herman Hollerith invented a counting machine named Tabulating Machine for the 1800 US census.
In 1944, Howard A Eiken developed the first general-purpose electro-mechanical computer, called Mark-I. The era of mechanical computers, or zeroth generation of computers, ended 1946 when vacuum tubes invented.
If you want to know more about the era of mechanical computing devices, go to these tutorials:
- History of computing
- History of development of computer
First Generation Computers (1946 – 1954): Vacuum Tubes
The first generation of computers started from 1946 when vacuum tubes or valves invented. These computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry, and magnetic tapes for storing data.
A magnetic tape is a metal cylinder coated with magnetic iron oxide material on which instructions (i.e. programs) and data were stored.
Input was given to the machine through punched cards and paper tapes. Output was displayed on printouts.
Salient Features of First Generation Computer:
Some common characteristics or features of first Generation Computers are as follows:
(1) First generation computers were based on the vacuum tube technology. They used punch cards for data storage.
(2) They were the fastest computing devices of their times. Their computational time was in milliseconds.
(3) These computers were very large in size. Therefore, they required a lot of space for installation.
(4) Computers consumed very high electricity. They required 150 – 160 KW of electrical power.
(5) Since the computer machine consisted of thousands of vacuum tubes, they generated a large amount of heat. Due to heat, machines were prone to stop working frequently. Therefore, a big air conditioning was necessary to cool them.
(6) These computers had used punch cards to store data. The memory size of the first generation of computers was very small. The internal storage was only 20 bytes.
(7) They had used the punch card reader to input data, and they produced the output on printouts.
(8) The speed of first generation computers was very slow. They had only the speed of 5 mbps.
(9) The computers of first generation had used machine language, which was machine dependent, and used the binary code 0s and 1s for writing instructions (i.e. programs). They were capable of performing one task at a time.
(10) Since machine language was used in the first generation, they were difficult to program and use.
(11) These computers were very expensive to operate.
(12) These machines are non-portable, unreliable, and prone to frequent hardware failures. Therefore, regular maintenance was required to operate these computers.
(13) Although they were not accurate and reliable, still they were used for both businesses and scientific applications.
(14) Mark-I, ENAIC, ENVAC, UNIVAC, IBM-701, and IBM-650 are the examples of first generation of computers.
Second Generation of Computers (1955-1964): Transistors
The second generation of computers started in 1955 when transistors invented. These generation computers were using transistors in the place of vacuum tubes because they were superior to vacuum tubes.
A transistor is composed of semiconductor materials like silicon and germanium. It usually contains three leads, as shown in the below figure and performed electrical functions, like voltage, current, or power amplification with low power requirements.
As a transistor is a small device, it reduced the physical size of computers to the great extent. Now the second generation computers became smaller, cheaper, faster, energy efficient, accurate, and more reliable than their predecessors.
In the second generation, engineers used magnetic cores as primary memory and magnetic disks as secondary storage devices. However, the second generation computers were still using punched cards for input and printouts for outputs.
One of the major development of this generation of computers was that they were using assembly language and high-level programming languages, such as FORTRAN, COBOL, and Algol. The use of these languages in the computers replaced the cryptic binary machine code.
Salient Features of Second Generation Computer:
There are some common salient features of second generation computers that are as follows:
(1) The second generation of computers was based on the transistor technology instead of vacuum tubes.
(2) Computers made up of transistors were smaller in size when compared to the first generation of computers.
(3) Since transistors were faster than vacuum tubes, the computational time of these computers was reduced to microseconds from milliseconds.
(4) These computers used magnetic cores as primary memory and magnetic disks as secondary storage. They got memory size of 32 bytes.
(5) However, these computers still used punched cards and paper tapes as input devices and output were given through printouts.
(6) The second generation of computers had all components, such as storage capacity, disk storage, operating system, and printer.
(7) The speed of second generation computers was fast as compared to first generation. They had the speed of 10mbps.
(8) These computers had used assembly language, which allowed the programmers to specify the instructions in words. Assembly languages, such as COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC, came into the existence.
(9) Computers made up of transistors consumed far less power and generated less heat in comparison to first generation.
(10) They were more portable, reliable, and less prone to hardware failure. As a result, such computers needed less frequent maintenance.
(11) Second generation computers still required air conditioners to cool computers like first generation.
(12) These computers were cheaper and more efficient than compared to first generation.
(13) PDP-8, IBM-1401, IBM-7090, CDC 1604, CDC 3600, RCA 501, and UNIVAC 1108 are examples of the second generation of computers.
Third Generation Computers (1964-1975): Integrated Circuit
The third generation of computers was started in 1964 when IC invented. Jack Kilby invented an integrated circuit (IC).
An integrated circuit consists of a single silicon (which is a semiconductor) chip with several components, such as transistors, capacitors, and resistors placed on it.
The development of ICs made the third generation computers cheaper, portable, and more reliable. ICs also reduced the size of third generation computers as compared to second generation. They replaced several individually wired transistors.
Salient Features of Third Generation Computer:
There are the following common salient features of the third generation of computers. They are as:
(1) The third generation computers was based on ICs technology. ICs were used first time on the computers.
(2) The use of ICs increased the speed and efficiency of computers as compared to previous generations. It reduced the computational time to nanoseconds from milliseconds.
(3) These computers had used magnetic disks and tapes for data storage, keyboard as input device, monitors, and printers as output devices.
(4) They were easily portable, more powerful and reliable than computers of previous generations.
(5) In this computer generation, power consumption had reduced to a great extent. They produced very little heat. In some case, air conditioners might still require.
(6) The size of these computers was smaller than compared to previous version computers.
(7) In this generation, engineers used remote processing, time-sharing, real-time, multi-programming operating in the computers. Operating system allowed to run different programs at the same time.
(8) During this time, high-level programming language, such as COBOL, PASCAL, PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68, etc. had been used in the computers.
(9) Since hardware used in the computers rarely failed, the cost of maintenance was quite low.
(10) Third generation computers became cheaper than previous versions.
(11) In this generation, minicomputers came into existence. IBM-360 series, Honeywell-6000 series, PDP (Personal Data Processor), IBM-370/168, and TDC-316 are examples of third generation computers.
Summary:
1. First generation:
- Evolution: 1946-1954
- Technology used: Vacuum tube
- consumed a lot of electricity.
- generated lot of heat and prone to malfunction.
- Programming language used: Machine language
- Memory: Magnetic core memory
- Storage: Punched cards, and Tape
- Examples:
- ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), the first electronic computer based on vacuum tubes.
- EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), designed by Maurice Wilkes, at Cambridge university.
- EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), the advanced version of EDSAC.
- UNIVAC-I (Universal Automatic Calculator), the first computing device to handle both numeric and textual information.
2. Second generation:
- Evolution: 1955-1964
- Technology used: Transistors
- smaller in size, faster, and more reliable
- generated less heat as compared to first generation
- Programming language used: Assembly language, COBOL, FORTRAN
- Memory: Magnetic core memory
- Storage: Magnetic disk and Tapes
- Examples:
- IBM-701 (IBM’s first electronic computer)
- PDP-1 (first minicomputer)
- IBM-650 (a magnetic drum calculator, first mass-produced computer)
3. Third generation:
- Evolution: 1964-1975
- Technology used: Integrated Circuits (ICs)
- MSI
- SSI
- Programming language used: Assembly language, Fortran, COBOL
- Memory: Magnetic core memory, semiconductor memories (LSI chips)
- Storage: Magnetic disk and Tapes, ROM
- Examples:
- IBM-360 (first product line designed as a family)
- PDP-8 (first mass market minicomputer)
- PDP-11 (first highly successful minicomputer)
- CRAY-11 (first supercomputer)
- VAX (first super minicomputer)
In this tutorial, you have known about from first to third generation of computers with examples. Hope that you will have understood the basic salient features of computers of different generations.
Thanks for reading!!!
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