Generation Of Computer 

The First Generation of Computers- (the 1940s-1950s)

1.     The main electronic component used in the computers of the 1940s to 1950s era were vacuum tubes.

2.     The main memory storing units were magnetic tapes and magnetic drums.

3.     The machine language was used as the programming language.

4.     The sizes used to be very large which could take up entire rooms and the speed was very slow.

5.     The only input/output devices were paper tape and punched cards.

6.     Around 100 different vacuum tubes were used in order to produce the computers.

7. Examples are UNIVAC1, ENIAC, IBM 701 and IBM 650, etc.

The Second Generation of Computers- (the 1950s-1960s)

1.     The main electronic component used in the computers of the 1950s to 1960s era were transistors.

2.     The main memory storing units were magnetic tape or disk and magnetic core.

3.     The assembly language was used as the programming language.

4.     The sizes were smaller as compared to those of the first generation and they used to consume low power and generate less heat.

5.     There was an improvement in speed.

6.     The input/output devices were magnetic tape and punched cards.

7. Examples are IBM 1401, IBM 7094 AND IBM 7090, UNIVAC 1107, and so on.

The Third Generation of Computers- (the 1960s-1970s)

1.     The main electronic components used in the computers of the era 1060s to 1970s were integrated circuits ICs.

2.     The memory storing units were the magnetic disk or take and a large magnetic core.

3.     High-level languages such as BASIC, COBOL, Pascal were used as the programming language.

4.     The sizes were smaller and efficient and the computers were called minicomputers.

5.     There was an improvement in reliability and speed as compared to the second generation of computers.

6.     The input/output devices were keyboards, magnetic tape monitor, printer, etc.

7. Examples are IBM 370, IBM 360, UNIVAC 1108 and so on.

The Fourth Generation of Computers- (1970s-present)

1.     The main electronic components used in the fourth generation of computers are microprocessors and very large scale integration (VLSI).

2.     When thousands of transistors are attached to a single microchip, it is known as VLSI.

3.     Semiconductor memory storage units such as RAM, ROM, etc were introduced.

4.     RAM (random-access memory)- Temporarily stores the programs and data and the contents are lost when the computer is shut down.

5.     ROM (read-only memory)- Permanently stores the data and programs and the contents are retained even after shutting down the computer.

6.     High-level languages such as C#, JAVA, Python, JavaScript are used as programming languages.

7.     The sizes are smaller and the speed has improved.

8.     The input/output devices are a monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, and so on.

9. Examples are STAR 1000, APPLE II, IBM PC, and so on.

The Fifth Generation of Computers- (present and the future)

1.     The main electronic components that are used in the present generation of computers is Artificial Intelligence which uses the parallel processing method and the Ultra-Large Scale Integration (ULSI).

2.     The fifth generation of computers understands the natural human language.

3.     The speeds are really fast and the sizes are also small.

4.     The fifth-generation computers are portable and have a huge storage capacity.

5.     The input/output devices are keyboards, monitors, touchscreen pens, printers, light scanners, and so on.

6. Examples are laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, etc.

Computers can be broadly classified into five generations, each representing a significant improvement over the previous one. The following is a brief overview of each generation:

1. First Generation (1940-1956) - The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes for processing and magnetic drums for storage. They were large, slow, and expensive, and required a lot of power to operate.

2. Second Generation (1956-1963) - The second generation of computers used transistors instead of vacuum tubes, which made them smaller, faster, and more reliable. They also introduced magnetic core memory as a more efficient form of storage.

3. Third Generation (1964-1971) - The third generation of computers used integrated circuits (ICs), which allowed for even greater speed and power. They also introduced the concept of time-sharing and multi-programming, which allowed multiple users to access a single computer at the same time.

4. Fourth Generation (1971-1989) - The fourth generation of computers used microprocessors, which made them smaller, faster, and more powerful. They also introduced the graphical user interface (GUI) and personal computers (PCs), which made computing more accessible to the general public.

5. Fifth Generation (1989-Present) - The fifth generation of computers is still in development, but it is focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It involves the development of advanced software and hardware that can mimic human thought processes and solve complex problems.