Draft:Generations of Computers

Computers have been evolving since their creation, passing through various generations. From 1940 to the present, the history of computers has gone through many generations. The sixth and most recent generation is integrated with microprocessors such as Intel Core or AMD Ryzen.+

History

The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, better known as ENIAC, is often considered the first general-purpose computer, although this title actually belongs to the German computer Z3. It was fully digital, meaning it executed its processes and operations through machine language instructions, unlike other contemporary machines with analog processes. Presented to the public on February 15, 1946, John W. Mauchly and John Presper Eckert from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) began its development in 1943. This enormous machine measured over 30 meters in length and weighed 32 tons, composed of 17,468 vacuum tubes. The heat from the tubes raised the temperature of the room where it was installed to up to 50°C.

When the ENIAC was completed in 1946, World War II had already ended. The end of the war shifted efforts, which had been primarily dedicated to military objectives, to other types of scientific research more related to the needs of private enterprise. These multiple efforts yielded results: in 1945, Mauchly and Eckert began working on a successor to the ENIAC, the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), and Aiken started the design of the Mark II. In 1951, what is considered the first widely commercialized computer, the UNIVAC I, began operating successfully. In 1952, the UNIVAC computer was used to count votes in the U.S. presidential elections. The result (Eisenhower's victory over Adlai Stevenson) was known 50 minutes after the polls closed.

First Generation (1946-1955)

The first generation of computers was built with vacuum tube electronics. They were programmed in machine language. A program is a set of instructions for the machine to perform a task, and the simplest language in which a program can be specified is called machine language (because the program must be written using some set of binary codes). The first generation of computers and their predecessors are described in the following list of the main models:

1946 ENIAC. Often considered the first digital electronic computer in history, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was not a production model but an experimental machine. It was not programmable in the current sense. This enormous apparatus occupied an entire basement at the university. Built with 18,000 vacuum tubes, it consumed several kilowatts of electrical power and weighed 27 tons. It was capable of performing five thousand additions per second. The ENIAC was created by a team of engineers and scientists led by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

1949 EDVAC. Second programmable computer. It was also a laboratory prototype, but it already included in its design the central ideas that shape modern computers.

1951 UNIVAC I. First commercial computer. Doctors Mauchly and Eckert founded the Universal Computer (Univac) company, and their first product was this machine. The first customer was the United States Census Bureau.

1953 IBM 701. To input data, these machines used punched cards, which had been invented during the Industrial Revolution (late 18th century) by the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard and perfected by the American Herman Hollerith in 1890. The IBM 701 was the first in a long series of computers from this company, which would later become number one in sales volume.

- IBM continued with other models, which incorporated a mass storage mechanism called a magnetic drum, which over the years evolved and became the magnetic disk.

- Zuse Z22. The first computer by Konrad Zuse utilizing vacuum tubes. The UNIVAC processor weighed 30 tons and required the entire space of a 20 by 40 feet room.

Second Generation (1955-1964)

The second generation of computers replaced vacuum tubes with transistors. As a result, second-generation computers were smaller and consumed less electricity than their predecessors. Communication with these new computers was through more advanced languages than machine language, known as "high-level languages" or "programming languages."

The most relevant features of second-generation computers were:

They were programmed with high-level languages.

1951: Maurice Wilkes invented microprogramming, which greatly simplified CPU development, but this microprogramming was also later changed by the German computer scientist Bastian Shuantiger.

1956: IBM sold its first magnetic disk system, the RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control), for $1,230,000. It used 50 metal disks of 61 cm, with 100 tracks per side. It could store 5 megabytes of data, costing $10,000 per megabyte. The first general-purpose high-level programming language, FORTRAN, was also being developed at IBM around this time. (The high-level language design Plankalkül from 1945 by Konrad Zuse was not implemented at that time).