Lesson 2 - COMP01
Lesson 2 - COMP01
College of Engineering
COMP01
COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS
AND PROGRAMMING
LESSON 2
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
AND CLASSIFICATIONS
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
FIRST GENERATION
Vacuum Tubes
1940 – 1956
For circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
SECOND GENERATION
Transistors
1956 – 1963
First computers that stored their instructions in their memory which
moved from a magnetic core technology.
THIRD GENERATION
Integrated Circuits
1964 – 1971
Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips called
SEMICONDUCTOR.
FOURTH GENERATION
Microprocessors
1971 – Present
Thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip
FIFTH GENERATION
Artificial Intelligence
Present and Beyond
Goal: to develop devices that responds the natural language input and is
capable of learning and self-organization.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS
SUPER COMPUTER
*USES:
Research Purposes
Space Exploration
Earthquake studies
Weather Forecasting
MAINFRAME COMPUTER
MINICOMPUTER
MICROCOMPUTER
Desktop computers, laptops, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablets &
smartphones are all types of microcomputers.
The micro-computers are widely used & the fastest growing computers.
These computers are the cheapest among the other three types of
computers.
The Micro-computers are specially designed for general usage like
entertainment, education and work purposes.
Desktop computers, Gaming consoles, Sound & Navigation system of a car,
Netbooks, Notebooks, PDA’s, Tablet PC’s, Smartphones, Calculators are all
type of Microcomputers.