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
No comments:
Post a Comment