History of Computers

Computer is one of integral part of our daily life, from desktop to laptop, from mobile phone to smartphone, we all are using this amazing device. But do we really know, how this amazing device was invented. Let's dig into the history and find out the invention about this awesome machine.

Basically the Generations of computers are broadly classified into two ways:

1. Non-Electronic Generation.

2. Electronic Generation.

Let us discuss each of them briefly.

Non-Electronic Generation:

These are referred to as the zero generation computer.They were developed before the semiconductor revolution took place in 1946.They were made up of wooden or mechanical components.

Electronic Generation:

Computer developed after 1946 are categorized into five generations.Since they are mainly built with electronic circuitry,they are called the electronic generation computers.

First Generation computer:

These are developed during 1946-59,and were built with Vacuum tubes.Their Speed was 10^-3 sec.They had limited primary memory and used magnetic drums as secondary storage devices.The machine language programming was adapted I these machines.They were batch processing systems and were used for both scientific and business based application.

Second Generation Computer:

These were developed during 1957-64 and were built with diodes and Transistors.Their speed was 10^-6 sec.They had more primary memory and proved higher reliability.High level programming languages like FORTRAN,Pascal,ALGOL etc ,were used in these machines.The Concept of multi-programming,time sharing and real time processing were also introduced.

Third Generation Computer:

These were developed during 1965-70 and were built with Integrated circuits (ICs).There were 10-100 transistor in a single chip silicon chip.Their speed was 10^-9 sec(nano sec).They used semiconductor memory.They had higher reliability and reduced size.The concept of Operating System,Multi Programming,Parallel Processing were introduced.They were used in Weather Forecasting,Airline Reservation,Banking Services.

Fourth Generation Computer:These were developed during 1970-90 and were built with Large Scale Integration (LSI),100-1000 transistors in a single chip and Very Large Scale Integration(VLSI),1000 to million of transistor per chip.They have a huge Storage Capacity and their processing speed is from 10^-9 to 10^-12 sec.The concept of Networking was Introduced.

Fifth Generation Computer:

The development of super computer was the key motivation of the fifth generation computers.Super computers were developed with Super Large Scale Integration(SLSI),millions of transistors were used in a single IC chip.These are knowledge processing systems.The C concept like Artificial Intelligence and distributed processing were incorporated.They were RISC(Reduced Instructions Set Computing) based machines.CD-ROM(Compact Disk Read only Memory),WORM(Write Read Many Times) are introduced.

Today we have so many options starting from memory size to type of processors, powerful gaming computer to light weight chrome book. All these modern day computer is the result of continuous grow in technology and our hunger to knowledge.

Hope this blog gave you some idea about the history of this amazing machine "COMPUTER".

Thank You.