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Computer basics/types of computer/hardware and software and more, Summaries of Computer Fundamentals

The five generations of computers, starting from the first generation in 1946 to the fourth generation in 1980. It explains the basic components, memory, and operating systems used in each generation and how they evolved over time. The document also highlights some of the popular computers in each generation.

Typology: Summaries

2021/2022

Available from 12/26/2022

Vedmaurya
Vedmaurya 🇮🇳

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Generations of Computers
A generation of computers refers to the specific improvements in computer
technology with time. In 1946, electronic pathways called circuits were
developed to perform the counting. It replaced the gears and other
mechanical parts used for counting in previous computing machines.
In each new generation, the circuits became smaller and more advanced
than the previous generation circuits. The miniaturization helped increase
the speed, memory and power of computers. There are five generations of
computers which are described below;
First Generation Computers
The first generation (1946-1959) computers were slow, huge and expensive.
In these computers, vacuum tubes were used as the basic components of
CPU and memory. These computers were mainly depended on batch
operating system and punch cards. Magnetic tape and paper tape were used
as output and input devices in this generation;
Some of the popular first generation computers are;
oENIAC-( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
oEDVAC-( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)
oUNIVACI( Universal Automatic Computer)
oIBM-701
oIBM-650
Second Generation Computers
The second generation (1959-1965) was the era of the transistor computers.
These computers used transistors which were cheap, compact and
consuming less power; it made transistor computers faster than the first
generation computers.
In this generation, magnetic cores were used as the primary memory and
magnetic disc and tapes were used as the secondary storage. Assembly
language and programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, and Batch
processing and multiprogramming operating systems were used in these
computers.
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Generations of Computers

A generation of computers refers to the specific improvements in computer technology with time. In 1946, electronic pathways called circuits were developed to perform the counting. It replaced the gears and other mechanical parts used for counting in previous computing machines. In each new generation, the circuits became smaller and more advanced than the previous generation circuits. The miniaturization helped increase the speed, memory and power of computers. There are five generations of computers which are described below;

First Generation Computers

The first generation (1946-1959) computers were slow, huge and expensive. In these computers, vacuum tubes were used as the basic components of CPU and memory. These computers were mainly depended on batch operating system and punch cards. Magnetic tape and paper tape were used as output and input devices in this generation; Some of the popular first generation computers are; o ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) o EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) o UNIVACI ( Universal Automatic Computer) o IBM- o IBM-

Second Generation Computers

The second generation (1959-1965) was the era of the transistor computers. These computers used transistors which were cheap, compact and consuming less power; it made transistor computers faster than the first generation computers. In this generation, magnetic cores were used as the primary memory and magnetic disc and tapes were used as the secondary storage. Assembly language and programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, and Batch processing and multiprogramming operating systems were used in these computers.

Some of the popular second generation computers are; o IBM 1620 o IBM 7094 o CDC 1604 o CDC 3600 o UNIVAC 1108

Third Generation Computers

The third generation computers used integrated circuits (ICs) instead of transistors. A single IC can pack huge number of transistors which increased the power of a computer and reduced the cost. The computers also became more reliable, efficient and smaller in size. These generation computers used remote processing, time-sharing, multi programming as operating system. Also, the high-level programming languages like FORTRON-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, ALGOL-68 were used in this generation. Some of the popular third generation computers are; o IBM-360 series o Honeywell-6000 series o PDP(Personal Data Processor) o IBM-370/ o TDC-

Fourth Generation Computers

The fourth generation (1971-1980) computers used very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits; a chip containing millions of transistors and other circuit elements. These chips made this generation computers more compact, powerful, fast and affordable. These generation computers used real time, time sharing and distributed operating system. The programming languages like C, C++, DBASE were also used in this generation. Some of the popular fourth generation computers are; o DEC 10 o STAR 1000