1. Past, Present and Future
Computer Age:
Past, Present and Future

3. First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes

4. Characteristics of First Generation Computers
These first generation computers were based on Vacuum Tube technology.
These first generation computers were the fastest computing device of their times(computation time was in mili-seconds).
These first generation computers were very large and required a lot of space for installation.
Since thousand of vacuum tubes were used, they generated a large amount of heat. Therefore, air conditioning was essential.
These first generation computers were non profitable and very slow equipments.
They lack in versatility and speed.
They were very expensive to operate and used a large amount of electricity.

5. Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors

6. Main Characteristics of a second generation computer
Second generation computer machines were based on transistor technology.
Second generation computers were smaller as compare to first generation computers.
The computational time of second generation computers was reduced to microseconds from mili-seconds.
These computer were more reliable and less prone to hardware failure.
These computers were more portable and generated less amount of heat.
Assembly language was used to program second generation computers. Hence programming became time efficient and less cumbersome.
Second generation computers still required air condition.
Manual assembly of individual components into a functional unit was still required.

7. Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits

8. INTEGRATED CIRCUIT(IC)

9. Characteristics of Third Generation Computers
Third generation computers were based on integrated circuit (IC) technology.
They were able to reduce computational time from microseconds to nanoseconds.
They consumed less power and generated less heat. In some cases air condition was still required.
They were smaller in size.
Since hardware of third generation computers rarely failed, the maintenance cost was very low.
Extensive use of high level language became possible.
Commercial production became easier and cheaper.
Manual assembly of individual components was not required, so it reduced cost and labor.

10. Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors

11. Characteristics of Fourth Generation Computers
Forth generation computers are microprocessor based systems.
They are very small in size.
They are portable and quite reliable.
They do not required air conditioning since they generate negligible amount of heat.
Minimum maintenance required because of less hardware failure.
The production cost is very low.
GUI and pointing devices enables users to learn computer quickly.
Interconnection of computers leads to better communication and resource sharing.
Forth generation computers are very powerful than previous generations and can do more calculations or can run more programs at a time and for more hours.

12. Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence

14. Characteristics of Fifth Generation Computers
Combination of some or all of the following technologies:
Extremely large scale integration.
Parallel integration.
High speed logic and memory chips.
High performance.
Voice/data integration, knowledge based platforms.
Artificial intelligence, expert systems.
Virtual reality generation.
Satellite links.

16. SOME LATEST TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE YET TO BE RELEASED….