Order this information on CD-

Order this information in Print Download in PDF Format

ROM

Page Title: Digital computer

Click here to make tpub.com
generations tpub.com Updates
your Home Page
Back | Up | Next

Top of Form

[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ]
[ Next ]
w w w .tpub.com DIGITAL COMPUTER GENERATIONS
In the electronic computer
world, we measure
technological advancement by
generations. A specific
system is said to belong to
a specific "generation."
Each generation indicates a
significant change in
www.tpub.com computer design. The UNIVAC
ISO-8859-1 ISO-8859-1 I represents the first
generation. Currently we are
moving toward the fourth
en generation.
FIRST GENERATION
Bottom of Form
Bottom of Form The computers of the first
generation (1951-1958) were
Home
physically very large
machines characterized by
the vacuum tube (fig. 1-6).
Because they used vacuum
Information Categories tubes, they were very
unreliable, required a lot
.... Administration of power to run, and
Advancement
Aerographer produced so much heat that
Automotive adequate air conditioning
Aviation was critical to protect the
Combat computer parts. Compared to
Construction today's computers, they had
Diving slow input and output
Draftsman devices, were slow in
Engineering processing, and had small
Electronics storage capacities. Many of
the internal processing
 Food and Cooking functions were measured in
Math thousandths of a second
Medical (millisecond). The software
Music (computer program) used on
Nuclear
first generation computers
Fundamentals
was unsophisticated and
Photography
machine oriented. This meant
Religion
that the programmers had to
USMC
code all computer
instructions and data in
Products actual machine language.
Educational CD- They also had to keep track
ROM's of where instructions and
Printed Manuals data were stored in memory.
Downloadable Books Using such a machine
language (see chapter 3) was
efficient for the computer
but difficult for the
programmer.
Figure 1-6. - First
generation computers used
vacuum tubes.

SECOND GENERATION
The computers of the second
generation (1959-1963), were
characterized by transistors
(fig. 1-7) instead of vacuum
tubes. Transistors were
smaller, less expensive,
generated almost no heat,
and required very little
power. Thus second
generation computers were
smaller, required less
power, and produced a lot
less heat. The use of small,
long lasting transistors
also increased processing
speeds and reliability. Cost
performance also improved.
The storage capacity was
greatly increased with the
introduction of magnetic
disk storage and the use of
magnetic cores for main
storage. High speed card
readers, printers, and
magnetic tape units were
also introduced. Internal
processing speeds increased.
Functions were measured in
millionths of a second
(microseconds). Like the
first generation, a
particular computer of the
second generation was
designed to process either
scientific or business
oriented problems but not
both. The software was also
improved. Symbolic machine
languages or assembly
languages were used instead
of actual machine languages.
This allowed the programmer
to use mnemonic operation
codes for instruction
operations and symbolic
names for storage locations
or stored variables.
Compiler languages were also
developed for the second
generation computers (see
chapter 3).

Figure 1-7. - Second

generation computers used
transistors.
THIRD GENERATION
The computers of this
generation (1964-1970), many
of which are still in use,
are characterized by
miniaturized circuits. This
reduces the physical size of
computers even more and
increases their durability
and internal processing
speeds. One design employs
solid-state logic
microcircuits (fig. 1-8) for
which conductors, resistors,
diodes, and transistors have
been miniaturized and
combined on half-inch
ceramic squares. Another
smaller design uses silicon
wafers on which the circuit
and its components are
etched. The smaller circuits
allow for faster internal
processing speeds resulting
in faster execution of
instructions. Internal
processing speeds are
measured in billionths of a
second (nanoseconds). The
faster computers make it
possible to run jobs that
were considered impractical
or impossible on first or
second generation equipment.
Because the miniature
components are more
reliable, maintenance is
reduced. New mass storage,
such as the data cell, was
introduced during this
generation, giving a storage
capacity of over 100 million
characters. Drum and disk
capacities and speed have
been increased, the portable
disk pack has been
developed, and faster,
higher density magnetic
tapes have come into use.
Considerable improvements
were made to card readers
and printers, while the
overall cost has been
greatly reduced.
Applications using online
processing, real-time
processing, time sharing,
multiprogramming,
multiprocessing, and
teleprocessing have become
widely accepted. More on
this in later chapters.
Figure 1-8. - Third
generation computers used
microcircuits.
Manufacturers of third
generation computers are
producing a series of
similar and compatible
computers. This allows
programs written for one
computer model to run on
most larger models of the
same series. Most third
generation systems are
designed to handle both
scientific and business data
processing applications.
Improved program and
operating software has been
designed to provide better
control, resulting in faster
processing. These
enhancements are of
significant importance to
the computer operator. They
simplify system
initialization (booting) and
minimize the need for inputs
to the program from a
keyboard (console
intervention) by the
operator.
FOURTH GENERATION AND BEYOND
The computers of the fourth
generation are not easily
distinguished from earlier
generations, yet there are
some striking and important
differences. The
manufacturing of integrated
circuits has advanced to the
point where thousands of
circuits (active components)
can be placed on a silicon
wafer only a fraction of an
inch in size (the computer
on a chip). This has led to
what is called large scale
integration (LSI) and very
large scale integration
(VLSI). As a result of this
technology, computers are
significantly smaller in
physical size and lower in
cost. Yet they have retained
large memory capacities and
are ultra fast. Large
mainframe computers are
increasingly complex. Medium
sized computers can perform
the same tasks as large
third generation computers.
An entirely new breed of
computers called
microcomputers (fig. 1-9)
and minicomputers are small
and inexpensive, and yet
they provide a large amount
of computing power.
Figure 1-9. - Fourth
generation desktop
(personal) computer.
What is in store for the
future? The computer
industry still has a long
way to go in the field of
miniaturization. You can
expect to see the power of
large mainframe computers on
a single super chip. Massive
data bases, such as the
Navy's supply system, may be
written into read-only
memory (ROM) on a piece of
equipment no bigger than a
desktop calculator (more
about ROM in chapter 2). The
future challenge will not be
in increasing the storage or
increasing the computer's
power, but rather in
properly and effectively
using the computing power
available. This is where
software (programs such as
assemblers, report
generators, subroutine
libraries, compilers,
operating systems, and
applications programs) will
come into play (see chapter
3). Some believe
developments in software and
in learning how to use these
extraordinary, powerful
machines we already possess
will be far more important
than further developments in
hardware over the next 10 to
20 years. As a result, the
next 20 years (during your
career) may be even more
interesting and surprising
than the last 20 years.
Q.23 Technological
advancement is measured by
what, in the electronic

computer world?
Q.24 What does each
generation of computer

systems indicate?
Q.25 What were computers of
the first generation

characterized by?
Q.26 How did vacuum tubes
cause a problem for first
generation computers?

Q.27 In first generation

computers, internal
processing functions were
measured by what division of

time?
Q.28 The software (computer
program) used on first
generation computers was

what type?
Q.29 How were processing
speed and reliability
increased in second
generation computers?

Q.30 In second generation

computers, how was the
storage capacity greatly
increased?
Q.31 With improvements in
software, what kind of
computer languages could be
used on second generation

computers?
Q.32 What do the smaller
circuits in third generation

computers allow for?

Q.33 On third generation
computers, what results are
gained by faster internal

processing speeds?
Q.34 The data cell had a
storage capacity of how many

characters?
Q.35 What type of
applications were most third
generation computer systems
designed to accomplish?

Q.36 What type of computers

are small and inexpensive
yet provide a lot of

computing power?
Q.37 What does the acronym

ROM stand for?

Q.38 What will be one of the
future challenges involving

computer power?
Q.39 What term is used for
programs such as assemblers,
compilers, and operating

systems?
[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ]
[ Next ]

Order this information in Adobe

PDF Printable Format
Privacy Statement - Press Release - Copyright Information. - Contact Us -