Generation of Computers

CHAPTER 2

GENERATION OF COMPUTER

Ø The first electronic computer was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania based on vacuum tube technology.

 

1.   Generation: 1942 – 55

2.   Generation: 1956 – 65

3.   Generation: 1966 – 75

4.   Generation: 1975 – 89

5.   Generation: 1989 to present

 

1.   First Generation (1942-1955)

v      Hardware:

v The hardware used in the first generation are

·       Vacuum Tubes

·       Punch Card

v Features:

v It supported machine language.

v It had slow performance

v It occupied large size due to the use of vacuum tubes.

v It had a poor storage capacity.

v It consumed a lot of electricity and generated a lot of heat.

 

v Few Examples are:

·       ENIAC   EDVAC   UNIVAC    IBM 701   IBM 650

v Advantages:

·       It made use of vacuum tubes which are the only electronic component available during those days.

·       These computers could calculate in milliseconds.

v Disadvantages:

·       These were very big in size; weight was about 30 tones.

·       These computers were based on vacuum tubes.

·       These computers were very costly.

·       It could store only a small amount of information due to the presence of magnetic drums.

·       As the invention of first-generation computers involves vacuum tubes, so another disadvantage of these computers was, vacuum tubes require a large cooling system.

·       Very less work efficiency.

·       Limited programming capabilities and punch cards were used to take inputs.

·       Large amount of energy consumption.

·       Not reliable and constant maintenance is required.

 

2.   Second Generation (1956-1965)

v Hardware:

v The hardware used in the second generation of computers were:

·       Transistors

·       Magnetic Tapes

v Features

·       Batch operating system

·       Faster and smaller in size

·       Reliable and energy efficient than the previous generation

·       Less costly than the previous generation

 

v Few Examples are:

·       Honeywell-400   IBM-7094   CDC-1604   CDC-3600   UNIVAC-1108

 

3.   Third Generation (1966-1975)

v Hardware:

v The hardware used in the third generation of computers were

·       Integrated Circuits made from semi-conductor materials

·       Large capacity disks and magnetic tapes

v Features

·       Supports time-sharing OS

·       Faster, smaller, more reliable and cheaper than the previous generations

·       Easy to access

v Few Examples are:

·       PDP-11   ICL0-2900   IBM-360   IBM-370

 

v Advantages:

·       These computers were cheaper as compared to second-generation computers.

·       They were fast and reliable.

·       Use of IC in the computer provides the small size of the computer.

·       IC not only reduce the size of the computer but it also improves the performance of the computer as compared to previous computers.

·       This generation of computers has big storage capacity.

·       Instead of punch cards, mouse and keyboard are used for input.

·       They used an operating system for better resource management and used the concept of time-sharing and multiple programming.

·       These computers reduce the computational time from microseconds to nanoseconds.

v Disadvantages:

·       IC chips are difficult to maintain.

·       The highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacturing of IC chips.

·       Air conditioning is required.

 

 

4.   Fourth Generation (1975-1989)

v Hardware

·       ICs with Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) technology

·       Semiconductor memory

·       Magnetic tapes and Floppy

v Features

·       Multiprocessing & distributed OS

·       Object-oriented high level programs supported

·       Small & easy to use; hand-held computers have evolved

·       No external cooling required & affordable

·       This generation saw the development of networks and the internet

·       It saw the development of new trends in GUIs and mouse

 

v Few Examples are:

·       IBM 4341  DEC-10  STAR- 1000P  UP-11

 

 

v Advantages:

·       Fastest in computation and size get reduced as compared to the previous generation of computer.

·       Heat generated is negligible.

·       Small in size as compared to previous generation computers.

·       Less maintenance is required.

·       All types of high-level language can be used in this type of computers.

 

v Disadvantages:

·       The Microprocessor design and fabrication are very complex.

·       Air conditioning is required in many cases due to the presence of ICs.

·       Advance technology is required to make the ICs.

 

 

5.   Fifth Generation (1989 onwards)

 

v Hardware

·       Integrated Circuits with VLSI and Nano technology

·       Large capacity hard disk with RAID support

·       Powerful servers, Internet, Cluster computing

v Features

·       Powerful, cheap, reliable and easy to use.

·       Portable and faster due to use of parallel processors and Super Large Scale Integrated Circuits.

·       Rapid software development is possible.

 

 

 

v Few Examples are:

 

·      

IBM      Pentium   PARAM