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Computer Age
Past, Present, and Future
Generations of Computer
The First generation
The Second Generation
The Third Generation
The Fourth Generation
The Fifth Generation
The First Generation
 1951-1958
 Magnetic core memory
 Vacuum Tube
 Storage
 Heat
 Burnout
 Punched cards
 Tape (1957)
 Machine language
Characteristics of 1st Generation Computers
 Computers big and clumsy
 Electricity consumption is high
 Electric failure occurred regularly - computers not very
reliable
 Large air conditioners was necessary because the
computers generated heat
 Batch processing
The First Generation
 1952, EDVAC-
Electronic Discreet
Variable
Computer
 John Von Neumann, designed
with a central control unit which
would calculate and output all
mathematical
and
logical
problems and a memory which
could be written to and read.
(RAM in modern terms) which
would store programs and data.
The First Generation
 1953, IBM 701
 The 701 was formally announced on May 21,
1952. It was the unit of the overall 701 Data
Processing
System
in
which
actual
calculations were performed. That activity
involved 274 assemblies executing all the
system's computing and control functions by
means of electronic pulses emitted at speeds
ranging up to one million a second.
 1953, The Whirlwind
 Whirlwind was a large scale, general purpose
digital computer begun at the
Servomechanisms Laboratory of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1946.
The Second Generation
 1959-1964
 Transistor
 Smaller
 No warm-up time
 Less energy
 Less heat
 Faster
 More reliable
 Storage
 Removable disk pack (1954)
 Magnetic tape
 Programming languages
 Assembly language
 FORTRAN (1954)
 COBOL(1959)
The Second Generation
 Computers became smaller
 Generate less heat
 Electricity consumption lower
 More reliable and faster
 Core memory developed
 Magnetic tapes and disks used
 First operating systems developed
 A new processing method was needed.
 Time-sharing (processing technique)
The Second Generation
• 1963, Mini-computer: PDP-8
– Digital introduces the first successful
minicomputer – the PDP-8. It was about
as large as a fridge and used transistors
and magnetic core memory.
• 1964 Real-time reservation system
IBM
developed
a
real-time
computerised ticket reservation system
for American Airways.
– It was smaller than SAGE and was called
SABRE
(Semi-Automatic
Related Environment).
Business-
The Second Generation
 1964, IBM’s System 360
 It consisted of 6 processors
and 40 peripheral units. More
than 100 computers per month
were ordered.
 1964,
BASIC
(programming
language)
 A
programming
language
was
necessary that could be used in a
time-sharing environment and that
could serve as a training language.
The Third Generation
 1965-1970
 Integrated Circuit
 Electronic circuit on small




silicon chip
Reliability
Compactness
Low cost
Inexpensive – massproduced
1. Computers smaller,
faster and more reliable
2. Power consumption
lower
3. High-level languages
appeared
The Third Generation
 1968, Intel was founded (INTegrated Electronics).
 They developed more sophisticated memory chips.
 1968, Magnetic core memory was replaced by a
microchip.
 The first 256 bit RAM microchips, and later the first 1Kb RAM
(1024 byte) chips, caused the disappearance of Magnetic Core
Memory that was used since the mid 1950's.
 1969, IBM System/370 replaced their System/360 with
the System/370 that only used integrated circuits.
The Fourth Generation
 1971-Present
 Microprocessor
 General-purpose processor
on a chip
 Explosive growth
 Digital watches
 Pocket calculators
 Personal computers
 Cars
 Copy machines
 Television sets





Integrated circuits, smaller
and faster
Micro computer series such
as IBM and APPLE
developed
Portable computers
developed
Great development in data
communication
Different types of secondary
memory with high storage
capacity and fast access
developed
The Fourth Generation
 1977. Apple II Wozniak and Jobs

1978 Intel’s 8086 processor that con-
released the Apple II. It was cheap,
tained
had 16 Kb RAM and was ideal for
segmented memory addressing.
–
playing video games.
16-bit
and
used
All x86 processors had to be
compatible
 It was sold with a keyboard, a power
registers
with
the
set
of
supply and included 8 slots for
instructions, first used in this
peripherals. It could therefore be
processor.
used with a wider variety of
peripherals and programs.

1979,
Motorola’s
68000
processor
which was used in the Apple Lisa and
Macintosh computers.
th
4
Generation
 1983, Apple’s Lisa

Apple announced the Lisa, a computer that used a mouse to move a cursor on the screen in order
to select commands. The Lisa was the first commercial computer to use a Graphical User
Interface (GUI)
 1983, IBM announced the PC XT (eXtended Technology). Memory was expanded to 640
Kb and it featured:

4,77 MHz processor speed

Double floppy disks

MS DOS version 3.3

Later versions also had 10 or 20 Mb hard disk drives available.
 1990, Windows 3.0 (operating system)

Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
The Fifth Generation
 Mid 1990’s
Applications for 5th Gen computers
 Intelligent

computers
 Artificial
intelligence
 Expert systems
 Natural
language



Intelligent robots that could ‘see’ their
environment (visual input - e.g. a video
camera) and could be programmed to carry out
certain tasks and should be able to decide for
itself how the task should be accomplished,
based on the observations it made of its
environment.
Intelligent systems that could control the route
of a missile and defence-systems that could
fend off attacks.
Word processors that could be controlled by
means of speech recognition.
Programs that could translate documents from
one language to another.
th
5
Generation
 Some technological developments that could make the development of
fifth-generation computers possible, include:
 Parallel-processing - many processors are grouped to function as one large group
processor.
 Superconductors - a superconductor is a conductor through which electricity can
travel without any resistance resulting in faster transfer of information between
the components of a computer.
 Expert Systems helps doctors to reach a diagnosis by following the logical steps
of problem solving just as if the doctor would have done it himself.
 Speech recognition systems, capable of recognising dictation and entering the
text into a word processor, are already available.
The Fifth Generation
AI – Artificial Intelligence
 How computers can be used for tasks that required
human characteristics
The Fifth Generation
 Expert Systems :Software used with an extensive set of organized data that
presents the computer as an expert on a particular topic
 Natural Language : Humans communicate with computers in the language
they use on a daily basis
 Robotics :Computer-controlled device that can physically manipulate its
surroundings
 VR – Virtual Reality: Engage a user in a computer-created environment
User physically interacts with computer-created environment
The END