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INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY 7
LESSON 2: GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS

Most Essential Learning Competencies

Familiarize with the different devices used before the computers.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, the learners will be able to:
 Identify the generations of computers
 Identify the technologies used in the different generations of computers
 WEEK 2 – DAY 1

INTRODUCTION

To understand the lesson please watch this video on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTc4kIVUnoA
LESSON

Computers

are electronic device that can manipulate, store, and access processed date, and produce information
for certain purposes. The evolution of computers is based on the different generations of computing devices
that were created one after the other. A generation is a state of improvement over and above each innovation.
This term is also used in referring to the different advancement in computer technology. With each new
generation, the circuitry smaller and more advanced than in the generations before it. As a result, the size and
the speed, power, and memory capacity have some become inversely proportional. New technologies and
discoveries emerge in order to improve the daily facets in life.
Each era of computer evolution is characterized by a major technological development of a particular
part of the computer that enable computer developers to accomplish bigger tasks at greater speed and lesser
time.

1. First Generation: Vacuum Tubes and Magnetic Drums

From 1940 to 1956 the first-generation computers used vacuum tubes from their circuitry.
Vacuum tubes are electronic tubes about the size of light bulb. First-generation computers needed
thousands of vacuum tubes in their operations. Thus, they were very expensive to operate. They
consumed up to 20 000 watts of electricity capacity and produced heat. In comparison an ordinary light
bulb produced a significant amount of heat over time even if it just consumes 10 to 15 watts of
electricity. It is impossible for one to hold a hot light bulb without suffering burns. These early computers
were very much susceptible to serious malfunctions and even explosions because of the vast amount
of heat they generated.
Computers in the generations store date and programs onto a metal cylindrical (called
magnetic drum) coated with magnetic iron-oxide material. These magnetic drums (also referred to
simply as drums) have been used as auxiliary storage devices, whereas before these were used as
primary storage devices. The magnetic drum has tracks or rings where data can be written. The tracks
are assigned to certain channels around the circumference of the drum.
These then form adjacent circular bands that wind around the drum. One drum can have at
most 20 tracks. During the write operation and as the drum rotates at a speed of 3000 revolutions per
minute, the device’s read or write heads deposit magnetic spots on the drum. This is the same
concepts used today in saving data onto and retrieving it from a particular type of storage device. The
drum may not be able to hold as much as today’s storage device, but during those days it did the job of
saving important data.

Moreover, first-generation
computers used machine language (a
language that uses binary codes, which
consists entirely numbers 0 and 1) to do all
of their operations. Thus, these computers
could only solve one problem at a time.
Machine language is the only language that

Magnetic Drum Vacuum Tubes

Source: https://www.daenotes.com/electronics/digital-electronics/magnetic-bubble-memories

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 they can understand. While easily understood by computers, machine language is impossible for
humans to use on a daily basis.
Examples of the first-generation computers are the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC)
and the Electronic Integrator and Computer (ENIAC). In 1951 the UNIVAC became the first commercial
computer used by a business client, the US Census Bureau.

UNIVAC ENIAC

In the US, EINAC was the first operational electronic digital computer. It was used to compute
WORLD war II ballistic firing tables.
Aside from being used in ballistics, the EINAC’s fields of application included weather prediction,
atomic energy calculations, cosmic ray studies, thermal ignition, random number studies, wind tunnel
design, and other scientific uses. As the need for faster computing speeds grew, the EINAC soon
became obsolete as it could no longer support the needs of the user for processing data.
First-generation computers occupied in entire room no smaller than the classroom.

2. Second Generation: Transistor

From 1956 to 1963, vacuum tubes were replaced by

transistors which were more efficient. These transistors
marked the beginning of the second-generation computer.
These transistors is a device that boosts a signal or open or
close circuit. Invented in 1947 at Bell Laboratories, transistors
eventually became mainstay of all digital circuits including
computers.
Transistors were widely used in late 1950’s as they
performed better than vacuum tubes. They were smaller and
more efficient as they used less energy and produced less heat. The use of the transistor paved the

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 way for a new generation of computers, which were smaller, cheaper, faster, more energy efficient, and
most of all, reliable in terms of computing.

3. Third Generation: Integrated Circuits

Technological improvements allowed manufacturers to create

silicon chips to fit small transistors. Silicon is the second most
abundant nonmetallic chemical element in the earth’s crust. It has
atomic properties that make it ideal semiconductor; that is, a solid
substance that conducts electricity in particular conditions. These
properties are the reasons why silicon has become an integral
material in making computer chips, transistors, diodes, and circuits.
To increase its conductivity, silicon is also combined with boron,
phosphorus, and arsenic.
This innovation paved the way for a new generation of
computers hallmarked with integrated circuits, from 1969 to 1971. An
integrated circuit Is a small microchip made of silicon that contains a large number of electrical
connections and performs the same functions as a larger circuit made from separate parts.

Computers were no longer crude machines. They became smaller and more efficient. Users no
longer used punch cards and printouts; instead, third-generation computers used certain interfaces like
keyboards and monitors controlled by an operating system (OS). These interfaces allowed users
dynamically use new software applications.

4. Fourth Generation: Microprocessors

The fourth generation of computers, starting in 1971 and prevalent until the present, is
hallmarked by the use of microprocessor. A microprocessor I composed of thousand on integrated
circuits within a single silicon chip that contains the central processing unit (CPU). In the world of
personal computers (PC), the terms microprocessors and CPU are used interchangeably. A
microprocessor controls every computer unit. It also controls the logic (a set of principles used in
preparing a computer to perform a particular task) of all most digital devices. This main part of the
computer serves as its brain in processing data to information (which is the result of data processing).
You can say that the microprocessor is like the human brain – it regulates all the functions in the
computer. Computers cannot really think on their own, but once they receive instructions, they will
process information and carry out instructions until given a command to stop.

Microprocessor

5. Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence

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 Fifth-generation computing are prevalent and are continuously being developed nowadays.
These have been a lot advancement in making computers, or many other things, for that matter,
smarter. Voice recognition software is already widespread in some of the technologies present today.
They are used to gradually break away from the standard mouse-and-keyboard interface. Hand
recognition applications also have their share in breaking away from the conventional encoding
process. Virtual environments and human-against-computer games are very much popular especially
with the young users. All of these were made possible due to the enormous programming computers
are given.
Fifth generation computers are based on artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is a branch
of computer science that deals with designing computers that mimic human behavior and actions. John
McCarthy, an American computer scientist, coin this term in 1956 at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Artificial intelligence works when a computer or a device functions with limited or no
guidance from the user. Online gaming or playing against a computer exhibits artificial intelligence. The
machine reacts to the actions a user makes throughout the game because it is programmed to do so. It
adjusts certain parameters and levels or complexities in order to simulate real-life situations, as in the
case of role-playing or online class.
To date, no computer has been made that fully mimics human beings or that express human
emotions. Computers, as some point, because of their computing power, have been surpassed the
thinking ability of humans. One good example of this was in February 1996, when a supercomputer
name Deep Blue managed to defeat Garry Kasparov, a world chess champion, in one of their games.
Kasparov though, was able to beat the computer and win in their series of chess games. However, in
their May 1997 rematch Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, 3.5 games to 2.5.
It is now possible to make humanlike machines and program them to serve drinks and walk
upright like people do. Honda Motor Co., Ltd., for example, developed ASIMO, the first humanoid robot
that can walk independently, climb stairs, and reach for the hold objects. ASIMO stands for Advanced
Step in Innovate Mobility. Robotic pets that mimic animal behavior to entertain people have also been
invented. These are some of the wonders this day and age has bought people. Technology has made
it possible to make inanimate objects move and mimic human actions. They can even speak through
language processors.
Natural language processing has allowed people to interact with computers without the need for
any specialized knowledge. This now allows people to talk to a computer to understand human
language proved to be harder than expected. Although there are already some applications that allow
humans to talk to computer, they are not as comprehensive as humanlike as humans would want them
to be.

Deep Blue ASIMO

Supercomputer

Deep Blue Computer APPLICATION

Fifth Generation
Chess Playing System
A. Classify each term in the box into the computer generation where it belongs. Write it under its proper column
in the table that follows. Then answer the question found below the table. Write your answer on the lines.

Artificial intelligence microprocessor Deep Blue microprocessor

Silicon ENIAC transistor

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Integrated circuit vacuum tube Macintosh
 Second
First Generation Third Generation Fourth Generation Fifth Generation
Generation
Vacuum tube Transistor Integrated circuit

Magnetic drum

How does each generation of computers differ from one another?

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B. On the line write True if the statement is correct or False if it is incorrect.

__________ 1. The first-generation computers used magnetic drum for memory.

__________ 2. Machine language, as used by the first-generation computers, can be easily understood by
humans since it consists entirely of binary codes.
__________ 3. A transistor is aa device boosts a signal or opens or closes a circuit and is present in third-
generation computers.
__________ 4. Microprocessor regulate all the functions in a computer.
__________ 5. Artificial intelligence is a branch of computers that mimic human behavior and actions.

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