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Period: to
First generation
·vacuum tubes to process information.
·punched cards to enter data and programs.
·magnetic cilynders to store information and internal instrucctions.
·extremely large, they used a lot of electricity, they generated a lot of heat and they were extremely slow.
-It began to use the binary system to represent the data.
-Machines: large and expensive. -
Period: to
Second generation.
·Transistors to process information, were faster, smaller and more reliable than vacuum tubes. 200 transistors could be accommodated in the same amount of space as a vacuum tube.
·small magnetic rings to store information and instructions.
·COBOL and FORTRAN were developed.
·developed the first flight simulator.
·minicomputers and remote terminals.
·The size decreased. -
Period: to
Third generation.
·integrated circuits that remember data, and store information as electrical charges.
·"chips" were developed to store and process the information.
·the multiprogramming arises.
·computers can perform mathematical processing or analysis tasks.
·the "software" industry emerges.
·the IBM 360 and DEC PDP-1 minicomputers were developed.
·computers become smaller, lighter and more efficient.
·less electricity consumed, They consumed less electricity, less calories generated. -
Period: to
Fourth generation.
·microprocessor was developed.
·more circuits are placed inside a "chip".
·LSI.
·VLSI.
·each "chip" can do different tasks.
·a simple "chip" currently contains the control unit and the arithmetic / logic unit. The third component, the primary memory, is operated by other "chips".
·the memory of magnetic rings is replaced by the memory of silicon "chips".
·personal computers or PC.
·supercomputers. -
Period: to
Fifth generation.
It covers from 1983 to the present. Greater role of the software.