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Generation Time Key
of Computers Period Technology Characteristics of Computers Examples
First 1940 Vacuum • used magnetic drums for memory. ENIAC,

to tubes • were huge in size and very expensive. UNIVAC
1956 • consumed large amount of electricity and
generated a lot of heat.
• used machine language and could solve only one
problem at a time.
Second 1956 Transistors • used magnetic drums with magnetic cores for IBM

to memory. 1401,
1963 • were the first computers to store instructions in NCR 304
their memory.
• moved from machine language to assembly language.

Third 1964 Integrated • used smaller-sized transistors placed on silicon PDP-8,
to circuits chips, called semiconductors. IBM 360
1971 • used operating system for their overall functioning.
• supported high-level programming languages.
• were capable of running several programs at the
same time.
• became accessible due to much reduced size and
cost.

Fourth 1971 Micropro- • have thousands of integrated circuits built onto a Desktops,
to cessors single silicon chip. laptops,
Present • can be linked together to form networks to share tablets,
resources. and
• have large storage capacities. smart-
• can be carried from one place to another easily. phones

Fifth Present Artificial • can recognise speech and handwriting patterns. Supercom-
and Intelligence • can recognise images and graphs. puters and
Beyond • are capable of performing highly complex Robotics
calculations at very high speed.
• are capable of communicating with other
networked devices.

First Generation Second Generation

Vacuum Tubes ENIAC Transistors NCR 304

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