This document defines the generations of computers based on the underlying hardware technology used. It outlines the five generations as: 1) Vacuum tubes (1940-1956), 2) Transistors (late 1950s-1960s), 3) Integrated circuits (1965-1971), 4) Very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) and 5) Ultra large scale integrated circuits (ULSI, 1980-present). Each generation marked a change to newer, smaller and more advanced circuitry that allowed computers to decrease in size while increasing in capabilities.

2. What do you mean by generation of
computer?
• Advertisements. Generation in computer te
rminology is a change in technology a
computer is/was being used. Initially,
the generation term was used to
distinguish between varying hardware
technologies.
Nowadays, generation includes both
hardware and software, which together
make up an entire computer system

3. • First Generation: Vacuum Tubes (1940-
1956) The first computer systems used
vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic
drums for memory, and were often
enormous, taking up entire rooms. ... The
UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are
examples of first-generation computing
devices.
First generation
computer

4. • A transistor computer, now often called
a second generation computer, is a
computer which uses discrete transistors
instead of vacuum tubes. ... A second
generation of computers, through the late
1950s and 1960s featured circuit boards filled
with individual transistors and magnetic core
memory.
Secondgenerationcomputer

5. Third generation
computer• 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 by Jack Kilby.

6. Fourthgenerationcomputer
• Computer - Fourth Generation.
... Computers of fourth generation used Very
Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI
circuits having about 5000 transistors and
other circuit elements with their associated
circuits on a single chip made it possible to
have microcomputers of fourth generation.

7. Fifth generation
computer
• The period of fifth generation is 1980-till date.
In the fifth generation, VLSI technology
became ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration)
technology, resulting in the production of
microprocessor chips having ten million
electronic components.