HISTORY & GENERATION OF COMPUTER.

Generation of computers

  zeroth generation of computer (1642-1945)

Pascal’s calculator
The first working calculating machine was invented in 1623 by German inventor Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), although details of its design were lost in a fire soon after its construction. In 1642, the French scientist Blaise Pascal (1623-1635) built a mechanical calculator when he was only 19. His machine used mechanical gears and was powered by hand. A person could enter numbers up to eight digits long using dials and then turn a crank to either add or subtract. Thirty years later, the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716) generalized the work of Pascal to build a mechanical calculator that could also multiply and divide. A variation of Leibniz’s calculator, built by Thomas de Colmar (1785-1870) in 1820, was widely used throughout the 19th century.

First generation
(1940–1956) Used vacuum tubes for processing and magnetic drums for storage. These computers were large, expensive, and unreliable. ENIAC, EDVAC, and UNIVAC are examples of first generation computers.
Second generation
(1956–1963) Used transistors instead of vacuum tubes, making them smaller, faster, and more reliable. Magnetic core memory was also introduced.
Third generation
(1964–1971) Used integrated circuits, which allowed for even smaller and faster computers. They also introduced magnetic disk storage and operating systems.
Fourth generation
(1971–present) Used microprocessors and very large scale integration (VLSI). These computers were incredibly powerful but also very small. They also introduced semiconductor memory storage units such as RAM and ROM.
Fifth generation
(present and beyond) Uses artificial intelligence

1. ZEROTH GENERATION COMPUTER (1642-1946):-
Years Invention
1642 Arithmetic machine invented by Blaise Pascal
1800 First punch card invented by Charles Babbage
1822 Difference Engine invented by Charles Babbage
1834 Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage
1836 Dvorak Keyboard developed August Dvorak and William L. Dealey as an alternate to the popular QWERTY keyboard
1837 First Fully functioning Electro-mechanical computer invented by konrad Zuse                                                                                                                                                         2. FIRST GENERATION COMPUTER (1946-1954):-

EXAMPLES:-
• ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator)
• EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator)
It was the first stored-program computer.
• EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer/0
It was successor of EDSAC
3. IAS machine (Princeton’s Institute Advanced Studies.
4. It was a new version of EDVAC, built by von Neumann.
• UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Calculator)
First commercial computer designed by J. Presper Eckert & John Mauchly.                                                                                                                                                                         3. SECOND GENERATION COMPUTERS (1954-1964):-                                                                                                                                                                                           Years Invention                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   1946 First electronic general purpose computer: ENAIC was invented

1949 First stored program computer – EDSAC was invented
1951 EDVAC was invented
1952 IAS machine was invented
1953 UNIVAE was invented
1954 Commercial production of silicon transistors by Texas Instruments
1956 The First transistorized, TX-O ( Transistorizes Experimental computer) is completed
1960 First automatic mass- production facility for transistors, developed by IBM
4. THIRD GENERATION COMPUTER (1964-1978)
Year Invention
1964 BASIC programming language developed by John Kemeny.
1969 Thomas Kurtz at Darmouth collage
1970 UNIX operating system developed at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories
1971 First 4004 microprocessor created by Intel
1972 PASCAL programming language, developed by Nicklaus Wirth.
1976 The first 8 bit- microprocessor (8008) by Intel.
1978 Intel introduce the 5-MHZ microprocessor.eesr
5. FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS (1980-till- date)
Year Invention
1980 The 8087 math microprocessor introduce by Intel.
1982 The 6-MHZ 80286 microprocessors introduce by Intel.
1982 Microsoft release first operating system, MS-DOS 1.1
1983 IBM announces the IBM PC-XT Model 370.
1984 Intel introduce the 16-MGZ 80826 DX Microprocessors.
1984 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released by Microsoft.
1987 The 80387 math co-processor introduce by Intel.
1988 Intel introduce then 33-MHz 80386 DX microprocessor.
1990 The 33-MMHZ 80486 microprocessor introduce by Intel.
1990 Microsoft introduces Window 3.0.
1993 Microsoft introduces 32- bit Pentium-I microprocessor.
1997 Microsoft introduce Pentium-II microprocessor.
1998 Microsoft introduces Windows 98.
1999 Pentium-III with 450-MHz introduced by Microsoft.
2001 Pentium-IV introduces by Microsoft.

5. FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTERS: The fifth generation is still under research and development stage. These computers will have Artificial Intelligence (AI). These computers will also have user interface in form of speech in natural languages. The most important feature of this generation will be that they will use intelligence software.
Example:
Yet to develop, ROBOTS have few features of fifth generation computers