NAME:MARY NYAMBURA

REG.NO:E109/1316G/21
GEO 212
ASSIGNMENT
FIRST GENERATION OF COMPUTERS 1946-1959.
It is a computer that uses vacuum tubes for logic circuitry. J.P.Eckert and
J.W.Mauchy invented the first successful electronic computer called ENIAC.
These computers were large and very unreliable. They would heat up and
frequently shut down and could only be used for very basic computations.
Therefore ,they were very expensive and only large organizations were able to
afford it.
In this generation ,mainly batch processing operation system was used. Punch
card, paper cards, paper tape, and magnetic tape was used as input and output
devices. The computers in this generation used machine codes as programming
language. computers in this generation preformed a single task at a time and had
no operating system.
SECOND GENERATION OF COMPUTERS .
The period of second generation was from 1959-1965. In this generation,
transistors were used that were cheaper, consumed less power, more compact in
size, more reliable and faster than first generation machines made of vacuum tubes.
In this generation, magnetic cores were used as primary memory and magnetic
tapes and magnetic disks as secondary storage devices. In this generation, assembly
language and high-level programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL were used.
The computers used batch processing and multiprogramming operating system. some
examples of this generation were; IBM 1620, IBM 7094, CDC 1604. In the case of
transistors, an electric current will cause the silicon to be a conductor.
THIRD GENERATION OF COMPUTERS.
The period of third generation was from 1965-1971. The computers of third generation
used Integrated Circuits(ICs) in place of transistors. A single IC has many transistors,
resistors, and capacitors along with the associated circuitry.
The IC was invented bt Jack Kilbly. This development made computers smaller in size,
reliable and efficient. In this generation remote processing, time-sharing,
multiprogramming operating system were used. High -level languages(FORTRAN-11
TO 1V, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1,BASIC ,ALGOL 68 etc).were used during this
generation.
Some examples of this generation were;IBM-360 series, Honeywell-6000 seres,TDC-
316.
REFRENCES;
The computer generation of beta.gamma and nornxii.
Bibliography for history of computing Thomas J Misa.