Generations of Computer

What is A Computer
A computer is an electronic machine that accepts information, stores it until
the information is needed, processes the information according to the
instructions provided by the user, and finally returns the results to the user.
The computer can store and manipulate large quantities of data at very high
speed, but a computer cannot think. A computer makes decisions based on
simple comparisons such as one number being larger than another. Although
the computer can help solve a tremendous variety of problems, it is simply a
machine. It cannot solve problems on its own.

History of Computers
Since civilizations began, many of the advances made by science and
technology have depended upon the ability to process large amounts of data
and perform complex mathematical calculations. For thousands of years,
mathematicians, scientists and businessmen have searched for computing
machines that could perform calculations and analyze data quickly and
efficiently. One such device was the abacus.
The abacus was an important counting machine in ancient Babylon, China,
and throughout Europe where it was used until the late middle ages. It was
followed by a series of improvements in mechanical counting machines that
led up to the development of accurate mechanical adding machines in the
1930’s. These machines used a complicated assortment of gears and levers
to perform the calculations but they were far to0 slow to be of much use to
scientists. Also, a machine capable of making simple decisions such as which
number is larger was needed. A machine capable of making decisions is called
a computer.
The first computer like machine was the Mark I developed by a team from
IBM and Harvard University. It used mechanical telephone relays to store
information and it processed data entered on punch cards. This machine was
not a true computer since it could not make decisions.

In June 1943, work began on the world's first electronic computer. It was built
at the University of Pennsylvania as a secret military project during World War
II and was to be used to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells. It covered
1500 square feet and weighed 30 tons. The project was not completed until
1946 but the effort was not wasted. In one of its first demonstrations, the
computer solved a problem in 20 seconds that took a team of mathematicians
three days. This machine was a vast improvement over the mechanical
calculating machines of the past because it used vacuum tubes instead of relay
switches. It contained over 17,000 of these tubes, which were the same type
tubes used in radios at that time.
The invention of the transistor made smaller and less expensive computers
possible. Although computers shrank in size, they were still huge by today’s
standards.

Another innovation to computers in the 60’s was storing data on tape instead
of punch cards. This gave computers the ability to store and retrieve data
quickly and reliably.

Classification of Computers
 Mainframe Computers
 Minicomputers
 Microcomputers
 Supercomputers
Mainframe computers are very large, often filling an entire room. They can
store enormous of information, can perform many tasks at the same time, can
communicate with many users at the same time, and are very expensive. The
price of a mainframe computer frequently runs into the millions of dollars.
Mainframe computers usually have many terminals connected to them. These
terminals look like small computers but they are only devices used to send
and receive information from the actual computer using wires. Terminals can
be located in the same room with the mainframe computer, but they can also
be in different rooms, buildings, or cities. Large businesses, government
agencies, and universities usually use this type of computer.

Minicomputers are much smaller than mainframe computers and they are also
much less expensive. The cost of these computers can vary from a few
thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. They possess most of
the features found on mainframe computers, but on a more limited scale. They
can still have many terminals, but not as many as the mainframes. They can
store a tremendous amount of information, but again usually not as much as
the mainframe. Medium and small businesses typically use these computers.

Microcomputers are the types of computers we are using in your classes at

Floyd College. These computers are usually divided into desktop models and
laptop models. They are terribly limited in what they can do when compared
to the larger models discussed above because they can only be used by one
person at a time, they are much slower than the larger computers, and they
can not store nearly as much information, but they are excellent when used
in small businesses, homes, and school classrooms. These computers are
inexpensive and easy to use. They have become an indispensable part of
modern life.

Computer Tasks
 Input
 Storage
 Processing
 Output
When a computer is asked to do a job, it handles the task in a very special
way.
 1. It accepts the information from the user. This is called input.
2. It stored the information until it is ready for use. The computer has
memory chips, which are designed to hold information until it is needed.
3. It processes the information. The computer has an electronic brain
called the Central Processing Unit, which is responsible for processing
all data and instructions given to the computer.
4. It then returns the processed information to the user. This is called
output.
Every computer has special parts to do each of the jobs listed above. Whether
it is a multimillion dollar mainframe or a thousand-dollar personal computer,
it has the following four components, Input, Memory, Central Processing, and
Output.
The central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic brain of the computer. The
CPU in a personal computer is usually a single chip. It organizes and carries
out instructions that come from either the user or from the software. The
processor is made up of many components, but two of them are worth
mentioning at this point. These are the arithmetic and logic unit and the
control unit. The control unit controls the electronic flow of information around
the computer. The arithmetic and logic unit, ALU, is responsible for
mathematical calculations and logical comparisons.

The processor is plugged into the computer’s motherboard. The motherboard

is a rigid rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects the processor
and all the other components that make up your personal computer. In most
personal computers, some of the components are attached directly to the
motherboard and some are housed on their own small circuit boards that plug
into the expansion slots built into the motherboard.

Generations of Computer
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. With each new
generation, the circuitry has gotten smaller and more advanced than the
previous generation before it. As a result of the miniaturization, speed, power,
and computer memory has proportionally increased. New discoveries are
constantly being developed that affect the way we live, work and play.

Each generation of computers is characterized by major technological

development that fundamentally changed the way computers operate,
resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient
and reliable devices. Read about each generation and the developments that
led to the current devices that we use today.

First Generation - 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes

The first computers used vacuum tubes
for circuitry and magnetic drums for
memory, and were often enormous,
taking up entire rooms. A magnetic
drum, also referred to as drum, is a
metal cylinder coated with magnetic
iron-oxide material on which data and
programs can be stored. Magnetic
drums were once used as a primary
storage device but have since been
implemented as auxiliary storage
devices.

The tracks on a magnetic drum are

assigned to channels located around the circumference of the drum, forming
adjacent circular bands that wind around the drum. A single drum can have
up to 200 tracks. As the drum rotates at a speed of up to 3,000 rpm, the
device's read/write heads deposit magnetized spots on the drum during the
write operation and sense these spots during a read operation. This action is
similar to that of a magnetic tape or disk drive.

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. Machine languages are the
only languages understood by computers. While easily understood by
computers, machine languages are almost impossible for humans to use
because they consist entirely of numbers. Computer Programmers, therefore,
use either high level programming languages or an assembly language
programming. An assembly language contains the same instructions as a
machine language, but the instructions and variables have names instead of
being just numbers.

Programs written in high level programming languages retranslated into

assembly language or machine language by a compiler. Assembly language
program retranslated into machine language by a program called an
assembler (assembly language compiler).
Every CPU has its own unique machine language. Programs must be rewritten
or recompiled, therefore, to run on different types of computers. Input was
based on punch card and paper tapes, and output was displayed on printouts.
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.
Acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, the world's first
operational electronic digital computer, developed by Army Ordnance to
compute World War II ballistic firing tables. 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 speeds.

Second Generation - 1956-1963: Transistors

Transistors replaced vacuum
tubes and ushered in the second
generation computer. Transistor
is a device composed of
semiconductor material that
amplifies a signal or opens or
closes a circuit. Invented in 1947
at Bell Labs, transistors have
become the key ingredient of all
digital circuits, including
computers. Today's latest microprocessor contains tens of millions of
microscopic transistors.
Prior to the invention of transistors, digital circuits were composed of vacuum
tubes, which had many disadvantages. They were much larger, required more
energy, dissipated more heat, and were more prone to failures. It's safe to
say that without the invention of transistors, computing as we know it today
would not be possible.

The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see widespread use in
computers until the late 50s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum
tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-
efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors. Though
the transistor still generated a great deal of heat that subjected the computer
to damage, it was a vast improvement over the vacuum tube. Second-
generation computers still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for
output.

Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language

to symbolic, or assembly, languages, which allowed programmers to specify
instructions in words. High-level programming languages were also being
developed at this time, such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These
were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory,
which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.
The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy
industry.

Third Generation - 1964-1971: Integrated Circuits

The development of the integrated
circuit was the hallmark of the third
generation of computers. Transistors
were miniaturized and placed on
silicon chips, called semiconductors,
which drastically increased the
speed and efficiency of computers.

A nonmetallic chemical element in

the carbon family of elements.
Silicon - atomic symbol "Si" - is the
second most abundant element in
the earth's crust, surpassed only by oxygen. Silicon does not occur
uncombined in nature. Sand and almost all rocks contain silicon combined with
oxygen, forming silica. When silicon combines with other elements, such as
iron, aluminum or potassium, a silicate is formed. Compounds of silicon also
occur in the atmosphere, natural waters,many plants and in the bodies of
some animals.
Silicon is the basic material used to make computer chips, transistors, silicon
diodes and other electronic circuits and switching devices because its atomic
structure makes the element an ideal semiconductor. Silicon is commonly
doped, or mixed, with other elements, such as boron, phosphorous and
arsenic, to alter its conductive properties.
A chip is a small piece of semi conducting material (usually silicon) on which
an integrated circuit is embedded. A typical chip is less than ¼-square inches
and can contain millions of electronic components(transistors). Computers
consist of many chips placed on electronic boards called printed circuit boards.
There are different types of chips. For example, CPU chips (also called
microprocessors) contain an entire processing unit, whereas memory chips
contain blank memory.

Semiconductor is a material that is neither a good conductor of electricity (like

copper) nor a good insulator (like rubber). The most common semiconductor
materials are silicon and germanium. These materials are then doped to create
an excess or lack of electrons.
Computer chips, both for CPU and memory, are composed of semiconductor
materials. Semiconductors make it possible to miniaturize electronic
components, such as transistors. Not only does miniaturization mean that the
components take up less space, it also means that they are faster and require
less energy.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation
computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating
system, which allowed the device to run many different applications at one
time with a central program that monitored the memory. Computers for the
first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller
and cheaper than their predecessors.

and cheaper than their predecessors.

Fourth Generation - 1971-Present: Microprocessors

The microprocessor brought the fourth
generation of computers, as thousands of
integrated circuits we rebuilt onto a single
silicon chip. A silicon chip that contains a CPU.
In the world of personal computers, the terms
microprocessor and CPU are used
interchangeably. At the heart of all personal computers and most workstations
sits a microprocessor. Microprocessors also control the logic of almost all
digital devices, from clock radios to fuel-injection systems for automobiles.
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.
In both cases, 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.
What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of
the hand. The Intel 4004chip, developed in 1971, located all the components
of the computer - from the central processing unit and memory to input/output
controls - on a single chip.
Abbreviation of central processing unit, and pronounced as separate letters.
The CPU is the brains of the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as the
processor or central processor, the CPU is where most calculations take place.
In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a
computer system.
On large machines, CPUs require one or more printed circuit boards. On
personal computers and small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single chip
called a microprocessor.

Two typical components of a CPU are:

 The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and
logical operations.
 The control unit, which extracts instructions from memory and decodes
and executes them, calling on the ALU when necessary.

In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984
Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm
of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday
products began to use microprocessors.

As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked

together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the
Internet. Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUI's, the
mouse and handheld devices

Fifth Generation - Present and Beyond: Artificial Intelligence

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.
 Artificial Intelligence is the branch of computer
science concerned with making computers
behave like humans. The term was coined in
1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Artificial intelligence
includes:
Games Playing: programming computers
to play games such as chess and checkers

 Expert Systems: programming computers to make decisions in real-

life situations (for example, some expert systems help doctors diagnose
diseases based on symptoms)
 Natural Language: programming computers to understand natural
human languages
 Neural Networks: Systems that simulate intelligence by attempting to
reproduce the types of physical connections that occur in animal brains
 Robotics: programming computers to see and hear and react to other
sensory stimuli
Currently, no computers exhibit full artificial intelligence (that is, are able to
simulate human behavior). The greatest advances have occurred in the field
of games playing. The best computer chess programs are now capable of
beating humans. In May,1997, an IBM super-computer called Deep Blue
defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a chess match.

In the area of robotics, computers are now widely used in assembly plants,
but they are capable only of very limited tasks. Robots have great difficulty
identifying objects based on appearance or feel, and they still move and
handle objects clumsily.
Natural-language processing offers the greatest potential rewards because it
would allow people to interact with computers without needing any specialized
knowledge. You could simply walk up to a computer and talk to it.
Unfortunately, programming computers to understand natural languages has
proved to be more difficult than originally thought. Some rudimentary
translation systems that translate from one human language to another are
in existence, but they are not nearly as good as human translators.
There are also voice recognition systems that can convert spoken sounds into
written words, but they do not understand what they are writing; they simply
take dictation. Even these systems are quite limited -- you must speak slowly
and distinctly.
In the early 1980s, expert systems were believed to represent the future of
artificial intelligence and of computers in general. To date, however, they have
not lived up to expectations. Many expert systems help human experts in such
fields as medicine and engineering, but they are very expensive to produce
and are helpful only in special situations.

Today, the hottest area of artificial intelligence is neural networks, which are
proving successful in an umber of disciplines such as voice recognition and
natural-language processing.
There are several programming languages that are known as AI languages
because they are used almost exclusively for AI applications. The two most
common are LISP and Prolog.

Voice Recognition
The field of computer science that deals with
designing computer systems that can
recognize spoken words. Note that voice
recognition implies only that the computer can
take dictation, not that it understands what is
being said. Comprehending human languages
falls under a different field of computer
science called natural language processing. A number of voice recognition
systems are available on the market. The most powerful can recognize
thousands of words. However, they generally require an extended training
session during which the computer system becomes accustomed to a
particular voice and accent. Such systems are said to be speaker dependent.

Many systems also require that the speaker speak slowly and distinctly and
separate each word with a short pause. These systems are called discrete
speech systems. Recently, great strides have been made in continuous speech
systems -- voice recognition systems that allow you to speak naturally. There
are now several continuous-speech systems available for personal computers.
Because of their limitations and high cost, voice recognition systems have
traditionally been used only in a few specialized situations. For example, such
systems are useful in instances when the user is unable to use a keyboard to
enter data because his or her hands are occupied or disabled. Instead of typing
commands, the user can simply speak into a headset. Increasingly, however,
as the cost decreases and performance improves, speech recognition systems
are entering the mainstream and are being used as an alternative to
keyboards.
The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial
intelligence a reality. Parallel processing is the simultaneous use of more than
one CPU to execute a program. Ideally, parallel processing makes a program
run faster because there are more engines (CPUs) running it. In practice, it is
often difficult to divide a program in such a way that separate CPUs can
execute different portions without interfering with each other.

Most computers have just one CPU, but some models have several. There are
even computers with thousands of CPUs. With single-CPU computers, it is
possible to perform parallel processing by connecting the computers in a
network. However, this type of parallel processing requires very sophisticated
software called distributed processing software.
Note that parallel processing differs from multitasking, in which a single CPU
executes several programs at once.
Parallel processing is also called parallel computing.
Quantum computation and molecular and nano-technology will radically
change the face of computers in years to come. First proposed in the 1970s,
quantum computing relies on quantum physics by taking advantage of certain
quantum physics properties of atoms or nuclei that allow them to work
together as quantum bits, or qubits, to be the computer's processor and
memory. By interacting with each other while being isolated from the external
environment, qubits can perform certain calculations exponentially faster than
conventional computers.
Qubits do not rely on the traditional binary nature of computing. While
traditional computers encode information into bits using binary numbers,
either a 0or 1, and can only do calculations on one set of numbers at once,
quantum computers encode information as a series of quantum-mechanical
states such as spin directions of electrons or polarization orientations of a
photon that might represent a 1 or a 0, might represent a combination of the
two or might represent a number expressing that the state of the qubit is
somewhere between 1 and 0, or a superposition of many different numbers
at once. A quantum computer can do an arbitrary reversible classical
computation on all the numbers simultaneously, which a binary system cannot
do, and also has some ability to produce interference between various
different numbers. By doing a computation on many different numbers at
once, then interfering the results to get a single answer, a quantum computer
has the potential to be much more powerful than a classical computer of the
same size. In using only a single processing unit, a quantum computer can
naturally perform myriad operations in parallel.
Quantum computing is not well suited for tasks such as word processing and
email, but it is ideal for tasks such as cryptography and modeling and indexing
very large databases.
Nanotechnology is a field of science whose goal is to control individual atoms
and molecules to create computer chips and other devices that are thousands
of times smaller than current technologies permit. Current manufacturing
processes use lithography to imprint circuits on semiconductor materials.
While lithography has improved dramatically over the last two decades -- to
the point where some manufacturing plants can produce circuits smaller than
one micron(1,000 nanometers) -- it still deals with aggregates of millions of
atoms. It is widely believed that lithography is quickly approaching its physical
limits. To continue reducing the size of semiconductors, new technologies that
juggle individual atoms will be necessary. This is the realm of nanotechnology.
Although research in this field dates back to Richard P. Feynman's classic talk
in 1959, the term nanotechnology was first coined by K. Eric Drexler in1986
in the book Engines of Creation.
In the popular press, the term nanotechnology is sometimes used to refer to
any sub-micron process,including lithography. Because of this, many
scientists are beginning to use the term molecular nanotechnology when
talking about true nanotechnology at the molecular level.

Here natural language means a human language. For example, English,

French, and Chinese are natural languages. Computer languages, such as
FORTRAN and C, are not.

Probably the single most challenging problem in computer science is to

develop computers that can understand natural languages. So far, the
complete solution to this problem has proved elusive, although great deal of
progress has been made. Fourth-generation languages are the programming
languages closest to natural languages.
Fifth generation computer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Fifth Generation" redirects here. For other uses, see Fifth Generation
(disambiguation).
The Fifth Generation Computer Systems project (FGCS) was an initiative
by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to
create a "fifth generation computer" (see History of computing hardware)
which was supposed to perform much calculation using massive parallel
processing. It was to be the end result of a massive government/industry
research project in Japan during the 1980s. It aimed to create an "epoch-
making computer" with supercomputer-like performance and to provide a
platform for future developments in artificial intelligence.
The term fifth generation was intended to convey the system as being a leap
beyond existing machines. Computers using vacuum tubes were called the
first generation; transistors and diodes, the second; integrated circuits, the
third; and those using microprocessors, the fourth. Whereas previous
computer generations had focused on increasing the number of logic elements
in a single CPU, the fifth generation, it was widely believed at the time, would
instead turn to massive numbers of CPUs for added performance. The project
was to create the computer over a ten-year period, after which it was
considered ended and investment in a new, Sixth Generation project, began.
Opinions about its outcome are divided: Either it was a failure, or it was ahead
of its time.