The Five Generations of Computer
The Five Generations of Computer
language.
. They were very expensive to operate and in addition
to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of
heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
The UNIVAC andENIACcomputers are examples of
first-generation computing devices.
First generation
computers
Second generation
computers
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and
(1956-1963)
ushered in the second generation of
computers.
Second-generation computers moved from
crypticbinarymachine language to symbolic.
High-level programming languageswere also
being developed at this time, such as early
versions ofCOBOL andFORTRAN.
These were also the first computers that
stored their instructions in their memory.
Second generation
computers
Third generation
computers
Fourth generation
computers
Themicroprocessor brought the fourth generation
of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits
(1971-present)
were built onto a single silicon chip.
The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located
all the components of the computer.
From thecentral processing unitand memory to
input/output controlson a single chip.
. Fourth generation computers also saw the
development ofGUIs, themouseand
handhelddevices.
Fourth generation
computers
Fifth generation
computers