HISTORY OF COMPUTER.
Computer
is any device which aids humans in performing various kinds of computations or
calculations.
There are
five generations of computer:
•First generation–1946 -1958
•The first
computers used vacuum tubes for
circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking
up entire rooms.
•They were
very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity,
generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
First
generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level programming
language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only
solve one problem at a time.
•Input was
based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts
Vacuum tubes
•Second generation–1959 -1964
Transistors
replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers.
•One
transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes.
•Allowing
computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more
reliable.
•Still
generated a great deal of heat that can damage the computer.
Second-generation
computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic, or assembly,
languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words.
•Second-generation
computers still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
•These
were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory,
which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.
Transistor
