Computers are undoubtedly a fantastic invention. Moreover, it has eased a lot of effort, time, labor, and money. However, the development of ultra-modern machines with sophisticated features that come today quickly. So, it took time. Years after year the technology went on advancing and gave rise to some advancement in computer technology too. Therefore, this article shall deal with five computer generations.
The path that led to the invention of modern-day computers from that of the ancient transistors was not simple. Moreover, this journey has always highlighted a ray of hope, a glimpse of optimism, and a sign of technological advancement. With time, new and new features came up. The computer technology shall further progress with time.
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Advancement in computer technology
As already mentioned, with time the society more and newer innovations. So, it all started with the development of vacuum tubes developed in the early 1940s. Indeed it was a tremendous start. From that beginning, the people succeeded in developing it to a higher knot every time. From the vacuum tube era, the world is progressing into the Artificial intelligence era. The current world sees more and more researchers with interest in the field of artificial intelligence.
Evaluation of the advancement of computer technology is possible by analyzing the computer generations history. Moreover, the long journey surpasses five generations. Each of these has something to contribute immensely to the computer innovation.
Computer generations
The long and promising journey is now moving through an era that deals with artificial intelligence. The modern world has started using AI for various applications. However, the scope of AI is beyond this. This fact motivates more and more the scientists and researchers. Thus, they dive deep into the ocean of artificial intelligence. Most of the time, they come up with something interesting and fantastic.
The time has gone too far and indeed the advancements. Moreover, the stage has reached to such a level where people are researching on the emotional intelligence of computers. Therefore, this article details the long journey generation after generation. The computer generations comprises of five generations.
If you are someone amazed at the modern-day innovations in computer technology, Read on. This article shall give you a brief of the computer generations history.
Five computer generations
The history of computer generations begins in the year of 1940. Plus, the era starting in 1940 marked the development of a beautiful start of computer technology. It is the vacuum tubes. From then on, the technology took its shape in a different form with immense and breathtaking progress every year.
The second era in the computer generations paved the way for the development of yet another innovation. It was the transistors that form an unavoidable part in most of the electronic devices these days.
Integrated circuits are what the third generation had in store. It was developed initially in the form of long and bulky circuits against the modern-day integrated circuits. The small and handy ICs that the devices use these days were evolved from these primitive forms.
A breathtaking innovation of Microprocessor took place in the mid of the fourth generation. It opened new opportunities and led a promising path in computer technology.
The fifth-generation is the ongoing generation. As you might be sometimes aware, this era initiated the mind-blowing innovation of artificial intelligence. This concept of AI has applications in diverse fields. Some of these are found and well implemented. At the same time, there is a lot more to unwind. Hopefully, more innovations in this field can open up new and advanced layers of technology advancement.
The following excerpts discuss each of these computer generations in detail.
The first generation of computer
The computer era started with the mind-blowing invention of vacuum tubes in the year of 1940. The first generation spans the time between 1940 and 1956. These early computers employed the vacuum tubes for establishing circuits. They utilized Magnetic drums for memory and storage purposes. Consequently, primitive computers were massive. It was real bulky to the extent that it took up an entire room for its accommodation.
These computers consumed a lot of electric charges. Thus, operating it was quite expensive. It also released vast quantities of heat. This further contributed to its malfunctioning.
These primitive computers employed the lowest level of programming language, which is the machine language. Functioning was time-consuming and operating it was a tedious task. However, it marked the onset of a promising future in computer technology.
Second generation
The period spanning between 1956 and 1963 comes in the second generation of computers. Transistors substituted the vacuum tubes in this era.
This fantastic replacement gave rise to faster, smaller, cheaper, more reliable, and more energy-efficient computers. This was much superior to the predecessors in the first generation.
The computers with transistors also released significant quantities of heat. Thus, damages were common. Considering its advantages and superiority over the vacuum tubes, it is a much better alternative.
Third generation
The development of Integrated circuits distinguishes this generation from the other era of computers. This generation began in 1964 and marked an end in 1971. The third generation computers were lesser in size as the transistors were made smaller. Also, these had better efficiency and speed.
The third generation of computers was cheaper and smaller. These features made the devices accessible to a broader public for the first time in history.
Fourth generation
The development of the Microprocessor is the hallmark of this era’s computers. The size of the machines got further reduced. This generation saw the systems in which combines all the computer components in one chip.
Fifth-generation
Computers based on AI (Artificial Intelligence) are what distinguish this type of machine from the predecessors. Moreover, the present year and further beyond comes under this category. Therefore, it is under new development.
A remarkable feature in this generation computer is the sound recognition. Researches are going into this field of AI. Hopefully, it shall take the technology to new layers of advancement.
Conclusion
The computer is a mind-blowing invention that gave a kick start to the world of technology. It has developed astonishingly and took various shapes and forms. Different fields widely use it for numerous applications. This article discusses the computer generations history that coves five different generations.
