2. VACUUM TUBES – 1ND GEN.
• (1940 – 1956)
• Used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
• Enormous and took up small rooms.
• First computer was developed by Amy Ordnance
• Invented to compute WWII ballistic firing tables
3. TRANSISTORS 2ND GEN.
• (1956 – 1963)
• smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy efficient, and more reliable
• Developed for the atomic energy industry
• Moved from magnetic drum to magnetic core technology
• moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic
4. INTEGRATED CIRCUITS 3RD GEN.
• (1964 – 1971)
• Even smaller than transistors
• Placed on silicon chips called semiconductors which increased speed of computers
• Users used keyboards and monitors
• Could run multiple applications at one time
5. MICROPROCESSORS 4TH GEN.
• (1971 – present)
• Could be linked together to form networks
• Lead to Development of internet
• GUIs, the mouse and handheld devices were developed
6. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 5TH GEN.
• (Present and Beyond)
• Still developing
• Voice recognition is an example that we use today
• Parallel processing is helping to make AI possible.
• goal is to develop devices that respond to natural
language input and are capable of learning
and self-organization.
