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CompuertaComputers are such an integral part of our everyday life now most people take them and what they have added to life totally for granted.
Computers are such an integral part of our everyday life now most people take them and what they have added to life totally for granted.
Even more so the generation who have grown from infancy within the global desktop and laptop revolution since the 1980s.
The history of the computer goes back several decades however and there are five definable generations of computers.Each generation is defined by a significant technological development that changes fundamentally how computers operates -
First Computational Generation 1940 - 1956
1940 – 1956: First Generation – Vacuum Tubes
These early computers used vacuum tubes as circuitry and magnetic drums for memory. As a result they were enormous, and costing a fortune to run. These were inefficient materials which generated a lot of heat, which caused ongoing breakdowns.These first generation computers relied on ‘machine language’ These computers were limited to solving one problem at a time.The two notable machines of this era were the UNIVAC and ENIAC machines -
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First Computational Generation 1940 - 1956
1940 – 1956: First Generation – Vacuum Tubes -
Second Computactional Generation 1956 - 1963
Transistors
The replacement of vacuum tubes by transistors saw the advent of the second generation of computing. Although first invented in 1947, transistors weren’t used significantly in computers until the end of the 1950s. They were a big improvement over the vacuum tube, despite still subjecting computers to damaging levels of heat. However they were hugely superior to the vacuum tubes, making computers smaller, faster, cheaper and less heavy on electricity use. -
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Second Computactional Generation 1956 - 1963
1964 – 1971: Second Generation – Integrated Circuits -
Third Computational Generation 1964 – 1971 Integrated Circuits
By this phase, transistors were now being miniaturised and put on silicon chips. This led to a massive increase in speed and efficiency of these machines. These were the first computers where users interacted using keyboards and monitors which interfaced with an operating system. This enabled these machines to run several applications at once using a central program which functioned to monitor memory.
As a result made machines cheaper,smaller a new mass market of users emerged during the ‘60s. -
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Third Computational Generation 1964 – 1971 Integrated Circuits
1964 – 1971: Third Generation – Integrated Circuits -
Fourth Generation – Microprocessors 1972 – 1981
1972 – 2010: Fourth Generation – Microprocessors
This revolution can be summed in one word: Intel. The chip-maker developed the Intel4004chip in 1971, which positioned all computer components(CPU,memory,input/output controls) onto a single chip. What filled a room in the 1940s now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel chip housed thousands of integrated circuits. The year 1981 saw the first ever computer (IBM) specifically designed for home use and 1984 saw the MacIntosh introduced by Apple. -
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Fourth Generation – Microprocessors 1972 – 1981
1972 – 1981: Fourth Generation – Microprocessors -
Fifth Generation – Artificial Intelligence 1982- 1989
Computer devices with artificial intelligence are still in development, but some of these technologies are beginning to emerge and be used such as voice recognition.AI is a reality made possible by using parallel processing and superconductors.In the future,computers will be radically transformed again by quantumcomputation,molecular and nanotechnology.The essence of fifth generation will be using these technologies to ultimately create machines which can process and respond to natural language. -
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Fifth Generation – Artificial Intelligence 1982 - 2017
Fifth Generation – Artificial Intelligence 1982 - 2017 -
Sixth Computational Generation 1990 - Till the day
The sixth generation could becalled the era of intelligent computers based on artificial neural networks or "artificial brains".They would be computers that would use superconductors as raw material for their processors,All this isin full development,for the moment the only novelties have been the use of processors in parallel, that is, the division of tasks into multiple processing unitsoperating simultaneously.Anothernovelty is the incorporation of specialized processor chips in video tasks. -
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Sixth Computational Generation 1990 - Till the day
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Seventh Computational Generation 1999 - Till the day
It begins approximately in 1999 in which the LCD2 type flat screens are popularized and the cathode ray beams are put aside, the simple DVDs have been left aside and their competitor is called BLU RAY DISC.The seventh generation in computers has come to replace the TV and the sound equipment, since it has achieved a digital reach by means of the capacity of the hard disks that is advancing so rapidly. Where it becomes an entertainment center. Example Optical Computers (light, without heat, fast)
