-
Period: to
First generation
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 of mobile phones
Mobile telephones for automobiles became available from some telephone companies in the 1940s.
Early devices were bulky and consumed high power and the network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. -
First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
• The first generation computers used vacuum tubes for circuit
•were often enormous, taking up entire rooms
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,
• Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts.
• The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices. -
Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
• 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
• Though the transistor still generated a great deal of heat that subjected the computer to damage
• still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers.
• The transistor was invented in 1947
• did not see widespread -
Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
• allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the memory.
• development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers.
• Transistors were miniaturized
• placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors
• Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers -
Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors
• As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks
• The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers
• thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.
• What the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand.
• The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971
• In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user
• in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh.
• Microprocessors also moved -
second generation of mobile phones
Second generation, also called 2-G, mobile telephones were introduced in the nineties.
The introduction of 2-G systems saw telephones move from historic 1G telephones to small hand held items, which were much more portable -
Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence
• Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come.
• 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.
• The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language
