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What is a Computer?
System Unit
A computer is an electronic machine that can be programmed to accept
data (input), process it into useful information (output), and store it in a
storage media for future use.
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History & Evolution
Abacus
Difference Engine Mechanical Calculator
Analytical Engine
1944 MARK I
Howard Aiken at
Harvard University
1951 - UNIVAC1
first commercial computer
1954 - Hewlett and Packard
Met and setup shop in
Garage at Silicon valley
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Difference Engine Analytical Engine
Mechanical Calculators
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UNIVAC 1
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1969 – Internet was 1975 – Microsoft Founded
Bill Gates with Paul Allen
founded
1976
Apple
1981-IBM PC
PC was
introduced.
1989 – WWW
Invented by
Tim Berners-Lee
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1994 – Netscape
Founded by
Jim Clark and Marc Andreesen
Many more….
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Computer Generations
1. 1st Generation
2. 2nd Generation
3. 3rd Generation
4. 4th Generation
5. 5th Generation
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1ST GENERATION (1944 - 1958)
VACUUM TUBES
Used thousand of vacuum tubes
They were fastest calculating devices.
Too large in size
Large amount of heat due to thousands of
vacuum tubes, so air conditioning was required
High power consumption
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1ST GENERATION (1944 - 1958)
VACUUM TUBES
•High power consumption
•Frequent hardware failure due to burn out of
tubes
•Costly to manufacture and maintain these
computers
•The first computer using vacuum tubes was
ENIAC
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1ST GENERATION (1944 - 1958)
VACUUM TUBES
IBM Punched Card (input)
Magnetic Tapes (output)
Vacuum Tubes
(memory)
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1ST GENERATION (1944 - 1958)
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UNIVAC ENIAC
2ND GENERATION (1959 - 1964)
TRANSISTOR
• Use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes
• These transistors were made of solid material, some of which
is silicon, therefore they were very cheap to produce
• Easier to use and handle
• No burning out, but hardware failures were still there
• Almost ten times faster than tubes
• Much smaller than vacuum tubes and generate less heat.
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2ND GENERATION (1959 - 1964)
TRANSISTOR
• Less expensive to produce but still costlier
• Produce less heat as compared to tubes but air
conditioning was required
• High level programming languages such as
FORTRAN, COBOL were used
• Easier to program these computers
• Batch operating system was used
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2ND GENERATION (1959 - 1964)
TRANSISTOR
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3RD GENERATION (1964 - 1970)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
•In 1958, Jack St. Clair Cilby & Robert Noyce invented
integrated circuits
•IC’s consist of several electric components like
transistors, resistors and capacitors embedded on a
single chip of silicon
•SSI, MSI technology
•More powerful & faster than second generation
computers.
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3RD GENERATION (1964 - 1970)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
•Smaller in size and require small space for
installation
•Require less power and produce less heat but still
need proper air conditioning
•Faster and large memory
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3RD GENERATION (1964 - 1970)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
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4TH GENERATION (1971- PRESENT)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
•Use of IC’s with VLSI technology Very Large-scale
integrated (VLSI).
•Microprocessors and semiconductor memory
•Larger memory because of larger hard disks and floppy
disks and magnetic tapes as portable storage media
•Very less heat hence no air conditioning was required
instead fans were used
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4TH GENERATION (1971-PRESENT)
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
•Graphical User Interface operating systems were
used
•Very easy to manufacture & maintain them and cost
very less
•Very fast as compared to computers in early
generations
•Microprocessors led to the invention of personal
computers.
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4TH GENERATION (1971-PRESENT)
MICROPROCESSOR
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5th GENERATION
PRESENT & BEYOND
•IC’s based on ULSI technology
•Portable PC’s (notebook computers) were much smaller
and handy
•Much faster and powerful than computers in earlier
generations
•Consume very less power
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5th GENERATION
PRESENT & BEYOND
•Less costlier and easy to manufacture and maintain
•Newer and more powerful applications make computers
more easy to use in every field
•Artificial Intelligence (AI) concerns with making computers
behave and think like humans.
•AI studies include robotics, expert systems, games, etc..
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5th Generation (Present & Beyond)
Artificial Intelligence
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