Question

Briefly describe the First and Second Generation of computer?

Answer 1

The development of electronic computers can be divided into generations depending upon the technologies used.

• First Generation Computer (1942-1959), can use vacuum tube technology. In 1943, the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator (ENIAC) was built at the University of Pennsylvania. It contained 18,000 tubes and consumed 150 kilowatts of power. ENIAC was very big than the room and weighed more than 30 tons. It can perform 5,000 additions and hundred of multiplications per second. It stored data by using a punching card
• Second Generation Computer (1959-1965), was developed using transistors that were able to perform a single operation in microseconds and were capable to store huge data. Transistors were invented in 1948. As compared to vacuum tube transistors are smaller, more reliable, and consume far less power. These computers were extremely reliable, compact in size, and had fewer heat problems.

The development of electronic computers and the technologies they used