-
The 1st Generation
The 1st Generation of computers was from 1940 to 1956. Computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums to store data and memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. -
The 2nd Generation
The 2nd Generation of computers was now used. The world would see transistors replace vacuum tubes in the 2nd generation of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see widespread use in computers until the late 1950s. -
The 3rd Generation
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the 3rd generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. -
The 4th Generation
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 memory to input / output controls—on a single chip. -
The 5th Generation
The 5th generation of computing devices are still developing, but there are some applications, such as voice recognition which were 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 change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of computing now is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.