History and Generations of Computers

History and Generations of Computers

History of Computers :

2500 BC – The Abacus

1614 AD – Napier’s Bones by John Napier, a Scottish mathematician as an aid to multiplication.

1633 AD – The Slide Rule invented by William Oughtred

1642 AD – The Rotating Wheel Calculato developed by a French philosopher, Blaise Pascal,

1822 AD – The Difference Engine by Charles Babbage British, mathematician and engineer Babbage is called the father of today’s computer.

1890 AD - Hollerith Tabulating Machine ,A tabulating machine using punched cards was designed by Herman Hollerith

Generation of Computers:

First Generation - 1940-1956: Vacuum Tubes

They were large in size, occupied a lot of space and produced enormous heat.

First generation computers operated only on machine language.

Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts.

First generation computers could solve only one problem at a time.

The Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) and the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator (ENIAC) are classic examples of first-generation computing devices.

Second Generation - 1956-1963: Transistors

Second-generation computers used punched cards for input and printouts for output.

Moved from the use of machine language to 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

Third Generation - 1964-1971 : Integrated Circuits

In this generation, keyboards and monitors were used instead of punched cards and printouts.

Fourth Generation - 1971-Present : Microprocessors

Thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.

Fifth Generation - Present and Beyond: Artificial Intelligence

Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in their developmental stage. Fifth generation computers will come close to bridging the gap between computing and thinking.

Ref:

1. IGNOU Study Materials

 2. http://www.lisquiz.com/2012/10/history-of-computers.html