GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS
FIRST GENERATION: VACUUM TUBES (1940–1956)
● The first computer systems used vacuum tube technology for calculations, storage and
control.
● magnetic drums were used as the main memory in these computers.
, ● they were often enormous, taking up entire room
● These computers were very expensive to operate, and in addition to using a great deal of
electricity
● the first computers generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
● First-generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level programming
language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only solve one
problem at a time. It would take operators days or even weeks to set up a new problem.
● The punched and magnetic tapes were used for the input and output function of the
computer in order to display on prints even the results weren’t 100% accurate.
Examples
Examples of the first generation of computers are ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer), UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) EDSEC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
Calculator), EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), (Electronic delay storage
automatic calculator), IBM -701 and IBM 650.
FIRST GENERATION: VACUUM TUBES (1940–1956)
● The first computer systems used vacuum tube technology for calculations, storage and
control.
● magnetic drums were used as the main memory in these computers.
, ● they were often enormous, taking up entire room
● These computers were very expensive to operate, and in addition to using a great deal of
electricity
● the first computers generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
● First-generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level programming
language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only solve one
problem at a time. It would take operators days or even weeks to set up a new problem.
● The punched and magnetic tapes were used for the input and output function of the
computer in order to display on prints even the results weren’t 100% accurate.
Examples
Examples of the first generation of computers are ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer), UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) EDSEC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic
Calculator), EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), (Electronic delay storage
automatic calculator), IBM -701 and IBM 650.
