History of Computers

    In this lesson we learned many things about the different kinds of computers, their inventors and all about the 5 generations.


The Generations:

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.
The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer.
  
Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
      In the second generation the computers use a transistor. The transistor was invented in 1947. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable than the first generation.
  
Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
      Another name for a chip, an integrated circuit (IC) is a small electronic device made out of a semiconductor Texas Instruments. The first integrated circuit was developed in the 1950s by Jack Kilby of
Integrated circuits are used for a variety of devices, including microprocessors, audio and video equipment, and automobiles.
  
Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors
       A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit (IC, or microchip)^. It is a multipurpose, programmable, clock-driven, register-based electronic device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. It is an example of sequential digital logic, as it has internal memory, i.e. its registers. Nearly all microprocessors, currently and historically, accept, produce, and internally operate on binary data (binary code and binary numbers), making them binary digital computer processors. (This is one point that differentiates microprocessors as a class, architecturally, from early non-integrated circuit computers such as vacuum tube computers, many of which used decimal digital logic in their vacuum tube circuits.) 

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence
       Fifth generation use now the "Artificail Intelligence".Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents"where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956,defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."