SHARDA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

COMPUTER GENERATIONS

PRESENTED BY-KAUSHIK BHATTACHARYYA

KUMAR RITWIK D.V
HARSHDEEP SINGH
KARTIK SHARMA(10SETECE187)
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 INTRODUCTION
A computer is a programmable machine that
receives input, stores and automatically
manipulates data, and provides output in a
useful format. It stands for “COMMOM
OPERATING MACHINE PARTICULARLY USED FOR
TECHNICAL AND EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH”. A
computer is an electronic device that can
perform a variety of operation in accordance
with a set of instruction called program. It can
process input and produces output.

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A basic computer
consists of three major
components: CPU
(Central Processing Unit),
IO (Input / Output) and
Memory. Data is the raw
material used as
the input.CPU processes
the
data. It consists
of the ALU and
CU. The result is
presented to
the user.

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 BRIEF HISTORY

Before the development

of the general-purpose
computer, most
calculations were done by
tools called “calculating
machine” or “computers”.
Some were operated
using large vacuum tubes
that formed the basis of
today's transistors. One of
the first such examples of
this was the Jacquard
Loom.

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Charles Babbage began in
1822 with what he called
the difference engine,
made to compute values
of polynomial functions.
Unlike similar efforts of
the time, Babbage's
difference engine was
created to calculate a
series of values
automatically.  It
remained unfinished and
the completed fragment
is located at the Museum
of Science in London.

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Over time computers became more and more powerful,
with the introduction of the ubiquitous microprocessor
driving forward development. Here are some computers
that came and went in the history of computing. Some
modern examples are also shown here-

z1 ENIAC

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ALTAIT 8800 COMMODORE 64

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MACINTOSH IBM PC

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 GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

The history of computer development is often

referred to in reference to the different generations
of computing devices. A generation refers to the state
of improvement in the product development process.
This term is also used in the different advancements
of new computer technology. Each generation of
computers is characterized by major
technological development that fundamentally
changed the way computers operate, resulting in
increasingly smaller, cheaper, and more
powerful and more efficient and reliable devices.

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FIRST GENERATION (1940-1956)

With the onset of the Second World War,

governments sought to develop computers to exploit
their potential strategic importance. This increased
funding for computer development projects hastened
technical progress. By 1941 German engineer Konrad
Zuse had developed a computer, the Z3, to
design airplanes and missiles. In 1943, the British
completed a secret code-breaking computer
called Colossus to decode German messages.

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The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers
are examples of first-generation
computing devices. The UNIVAC
was the first commercial
computer delivered to a business
client, the U.S. Census Bureau in
1951. ENIAC, the world's first
operational electronic digital
computer, developed by Army
Ordnance to compute World War
II ballistic firing tables. These
computers used vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for
memory, and were often
enormous, taking up entire rooms.

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 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. First
generation computers relied on machine language to
perform operations, and they could only solve one
problem at a time.
While understood
by computers,these
language was im-
-possible for the hu-
-mans to understand.

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The ENIAC, weighing 30 tons, using 200 kilowatts of
electric power and consisting of 18,000 vacuum
tubes,1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of
resistors, capacitors, and inductors, was completed in
1945. In addition to ballistics, the ENIAC's field of
application included weather prediction, atomic-
energy calculations, cosmic-ray studies, thermal
ignition, random-number studies, wind-tunnel design,
and other scientific uses. The ENIAC soon became
obsolete as the need arose for faster computing
speed.

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 Thus first generation computers are characterized by
the following facts:
-First Generation computers relied on vacuum tubes.
-They were too bulky in size and requires large rooms
for installation.
-They were difficult to program, hence had limited
commercial use.
-They had a limited life due to the use of vaccum tubes.
-they required constant maintenance.

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SECOND GENERATION(1956-1963)

The transistor replaced the large, cumbersome

vacuum tube in televisions, radios and computers.
As a result, the size of electronic machinery has
been shrinking ever since. The transistor was at
work in the computer by 1956. Coupled with early
advances in magnetic-core memory, transistors
led to second generation computers that were
smaller, faster, more reliable and more energy-
efficient than their predecessors. The first large-
scale machines to take advantage of this
transistor technology were early supercomputers.

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These computers, both developed for atomic energy
laboratories, could handle an enormous amount of data, a
capability much in demand by atomic scientists. The
machines were costly, however, and tended to be too
powerful for the business sector's computing needs,
thereby limiting their attractiveness. Second generation
computers replaced machine language with assembly
language, allowing abbreviated programming codes to
replace long, difficult binary codes. More sophisticated
high-level languages such as COBOL (Common Business-
Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator)
came into common use during this time, and have
expanded to the current day. These languages replaced
cryptic binary machine code with words, sentences, and
mathematical formulas, making it much easier to program
a computer.

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One important example was the IBM 1401. , which
was universally accepted throughout industry, and is
considered by many to be the Model T of
the computer industry.

IBM 1401

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 Second-generation computers moved from cryptic
binary machine language to symbolic, or assembly,
languages, which allowed programmers to specify
instructions in words. These were also the first
computers that stored their instructions in their
memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to
magnetic core technology. New types of careers
(programmer, analyst, and computer systems expert)
and the entire software industry began with second
generation computers. Here are some of the
characteristics of second generation computers:
-They were about 10times faster than the first
generation computers.

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-They were smaller than the first generation
computers.
-They consumed less power and dissipated less heat.
-They were more reliable and less prone to hardware
faliure.

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THIRD GENERATION(1964-1971)

The development of the integrated circuit was the

hallmark of the third generation of computers. The IC
combined three electronic components onto a small
silicon disc. Scientists later managed to fit even more
components on a single chip, called a semiconductor.
As a result, computers became ever smaller as more
components were squeezed onto the chip. Another
third-generation development included the use of
an operating system that allowed machines to run
many different programs at once with a central
program that monitored and coordinated the
computer's memory.

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Instead of punched
cards and printouts,
users interacted with
third generation
computers through
keyboards and
monitors. Computers for
the first time became
accessible to a mass
audience because they
were smaller and
cheaper than their
predecessors.

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FOURTH GENERATION(1971-PRESENT)

The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of

computers, as thousands of integrated circuits we rebuilt
onto a single silicon chip. By the 1980's, very large scale
integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of
components onto a chip. Ultra-large scale integration
(ULSI) increased that number into the millions. The ability
to fit so much onto an area about half the size of a U.S.
dime helped diminish the size and price of computers. It
also increased their power, efficiency and reliability.
The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated
circuit one step further by locating all the components of a
computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and
output controls) on a minuscule chip.

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Such condensed power
allowed everyday
people to harness a
computer's power. They
were no longer
developed exclusively
for large business or
government contracts.
By the mid-1970's,
computer
manufacturers sought
to bring computers to
general consumers.

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 Three basic characteristics differentiate
microprocessors:
 Instruction Set: The set of instructions that the

microprocessor can execute.

 Bandwidth: The number of bits processed in a single

instruction.
 Clock Speed: Given in megahertz (MHz), the clock

speed determines how many instructions per second

the processor can execute.
The higher the value, the more powerful the CPU. For
example, a 32-bit microprocessor that runs at 50MHz
is more powerful than a 16-bitmicroprocessor that
runs at 25MHz.

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Intel 8086 CPU Intel Pentium CPU

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 Here’s a few characteristics of the fourth generation
computers:
 Fourth generation computers are microprocessor –
based systems.
 Fourth generation computers are very small.
 Fourth Generation computers are the cheapest among
all other computer generations.
 Fourth generation computers are portable and quite
reliable.
 Interconnections of computers lead to better
communication and resource sharing.
 Fourth generation computers are very powerful than
previous generations and can easily do more calculation
or can run more programs at a time and for more hours.

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FIFTH GENERATION(PRESENT AND BEYOND)

Defining the fifth generation of computers is

somewhat difficult because the field is in its infancy.
Fifth generation computing devices, based on
artificial intelligence, are still in development, though
there are some applications, such as voice
recognition, that are being used today.

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Some of the technological developments that could
make the development of the 5th generation
computers possible include:
@Parallel processing-many processors are grouped to
function as one large processor.
@Superconductors-it allows the flow of electricity with
little or no resistance, greatly improving the speed of
information flow.
@Speech recognition systems, capable of recognising
dictation and entering the text into a word processor,
are already available.

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 GRIDS

We all know a PC, probably heard of supercomputers.

But something like a GRID computer is only known to
a small section of ICT professionals. A grid computer is
nothing else than a multiple number of the same class
of computers clustered together. Often the connecting
technology is called clustering. Internal a grid
computer is connected through a superfast network
and shares other devices such as disk drives, printers,
mass storage and mass memory. A sophisticated
operating system takes care for the (load) sharing in
computing and processing.

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 The big difference with mainframes and
supercomputers is that a grid or cluster computer is
mostly build from a large number of self-contained
computers. At least the separate machines could
work stand alone. And the other big difference is: it
can be built from low end computers like Intel
Pentium machines. And even Commodore 64's if you
could change the OS to work parallel and amass
enough C64's. In fact a grid can easily grow into a
super that is mostly a combination of parallel
computers or a massive amount of cpu's mounted on
separate cards, like the Cray machines.IBM
Corporation has donated the hardware, software,
technical services, and expertise to build the
infrastructure for World Community Grid and
provides free hosting, maintenance, and support.
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  
The END

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