Question Bank

UNIT 1

Fundamentals of Computers

Q.1 Explain in detail Generations of computer.

Answer:

Generation in computer terminology is a change in technology a computer is/was

being used. Initially, the generation term was used to distinguish between

varying hardware technologies. Nowadays, generation includes both hardware

and software, which together make up an entire computer system.

There are five computer generations known till date. Each generation has been

discussed in detail along with their time period and characteristics. In the

following table, approximate dates against each generation have been

mentioned, which are normally accepted.

Following are the main five generations of computers.

First Generation

The period of first generation was from 1946-1959. The computers of first

generation used vacuum tubes as the basic components for memory and circuitry

for CPU (Central Processing Unit). These tubes, like electric bulbs, produced a

lot of heat and the installations used to fuse frequently. Therefore, they were very

expensive and only large organizations were able to afford it.

In this generation, mainly batch processing operating system was used. Punch

cards, paper tape, and magnetic tape was used as input and output devices. The

computers in this generation used machine code as the programming language.

The main features of the first generation are −

 Vacuum tube technology

 Unreliable

 Supported machine language only

 Very costly

 Generated a lot of heat

 Slow input and output devices

 Huge size