Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) | Artificial Intelligence

Fifth coevals computing devices, based on artificial intelligence , are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today . The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of scholarship and self-formation .

Fourth Generation (1971-Present) | Microprocessors

The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer—from the central processing unit and recollection to input/output controls—on a single chip.

In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home utilizer, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors withal moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products commenced to utilize microprocessors.

As these minute computers became more puissant, they could be linked together to compose networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers withal optically discerned the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld contrivances.

Third Generation (1964-1971) | Integrated Circuits

The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically incremented the celerity and efficiency of computers.

In lieu of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating system, which sanctioned the contrivance to run many different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the recollection. Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were more diminutive and more frugal than their predecessors.

Second Generation (1956-1963)| Transistors

Transistors supersede vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not visually perceive widespread use in computers until the tardy 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, sanctioning computers to become more diminutive, more expeditious, more frugal, more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors.

Though the transistor still engendered a great deal of heat that subjected the computer to damage, it was a prodigious amelioration over the vacuum tube. Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.

Second-generation computers peregrinate from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic, or assembly, languages, which sanctioned programmers to designate ordinant dictations in words. High-level programming languages were additionally being developed at this time, such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These were withal the first computers that stored their ordinant dictations in their recollection, which peregrinate from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.

The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy industry.

First Generation (1940-1956) | Vacuum Tubes

The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for recollection, and were often gargantuan, taking up entire rooms. They were very sumptuous to operate and in additament to utilizing a great deal of electricity, the first computers engendered a plethora 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 quandary at a time, and it could take days or weeks to set-up an incipient quandary. Input was predicated on punched cards and paper tape, and output was exhibited on printouts.

The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing contrivances. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer distributed to a business client, the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951.

Five Generations of Computers?

In this Webopedia Study Guide, you'll learn about each of the five generations of computers and the technology developments that have led to the current contrivances that we utilize today. Our peregrination commences in 1940 with vacuum tube circuitry and goes to the present day — and beyond —  with artificial astuteness.

The history of computer development is often in reference to the different generations of computing contrivances. Each of the five generations of computers is characterized by a major technological development that fundamentally transmuted the way computers operate. Most developments resulted in increasingly more diminutive, more frugal and more puissant and efficient computing contrivances.