The Five Generations of Computer

The Five Generations of Computers

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Updated March 09, 2014 / Posted January 22, 2010

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The history of computer development is often referred to in reference to the different generations of computing devices. Each of the five generations of computers is characterized by a major technological development that fundamentally changed the way computers operate, resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable computing devices.

What Are the Five Generations of Computers?

In this Webopedia reference article you'll learn about each of the five generations of computers and the technology developments that have led to the current devices that we use today. Our journey starts in 1940 with vacuum tube circuitry and goes to the present day -- and beyond --  with artificial intelligence.

Related Webopedia Definitions: computer, magnetic drums, binary, integrated circuit,  semiconductor,nanotechnology

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First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes

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.

The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices. The...