-
First generation: 1937 – 1946
In 1937 the first electronic digital computer (Atanasoff-Berry Computer ABC) was built by Dr. John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. In 1943 an electronic computer name the Colossus was built for the military. In 1946 the first general– purpose digital computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was built. Computers of this generation could only perform single task, and they had no operating system. -
Second generation: 1947 –1962
This generation of computers used transistors instead of vacuum tubes. In 1951 the first computer for commercial use was introduced to the public; the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC 1). In 1953 the International Business Machine (IBM) 650 and 700. During this generation of computers over 100 computer programming languages were developed, computers had memory and operating systems. Storage media such as tape and disk were in use also were printers for output. -
Third generation: 1963-1990:
The invention of integrated circuit brought us the third generation of computers. With this invention computers became smaller, more powerful more reliable. In1980 Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-Dos) was born and in 1981 IBM introduced the personal computer (PC) for home and office use. Three years later Apple gave us the Macintosh computer with its icon driven interface and the 90s gave us Windows operating system. -
1990-actually
Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system accelerated the mass use of computers while the growth of the World Wide Web. By the first decade of the 2000s, Microsoft had introduced the XP and Vista operating systems. Bulky desktop monitors were replaced by LCDs and then by Laptops. Keyboards were replaced by touch panels and even laptops got smaller and smaller giving birth to tablets. Our computer are getting smaller and smaller.
