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18 Remarkable Developments Throughout the History of Computers

We cannot imagine life without computers. We have to thank Charles Babbage and other computer geeks who tried and tried in order to get us to where we are today.

The first generation computers occupied the space of an entire room, but the present day ones can fit into the palm. There are mainly five generation of computers.

First Generation Computers


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In the first generation computers vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory were used. These computers were very large and generated a lot of heat; also very expensive to afford. They could solve only one problem at a time. Their work is based on the cryptic binary language to perform the operations. Input was based on punched card and output on printouts.

Second Generation Computers


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In second generation computers transistors replaced the vacuum tubes making the computers smaller, faster and cheaper than their predecessors. They could understand the symbolic language and specific instructions given by the programmers in words. At this time high level programming languages were developed.

Third Generation Computers


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Integrated circuit was a drastic change in the third generation computers. Miniaturized transistors were kept on silicon chips which enhanced their efficiency and speed. They became smaller and cheaper because of which many people could afford. These computers have keyboard and monitor for input and output and these could perform many applications at a time.

Fourth Generation Computers


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These are present day computers. In the fourth generation computers, the integrated circuits were built into a single chip due to which they became more efficient and smaller. Other devices like mouse, GUI and handled devices also made the usage of computers easy.

Fifth Generation Computers


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User Comments
  1. MAG Villaflor

    On September 23, 2008 at 5:27 am


    Can’t believe you did all these research. Amazing :D

  2. MC caluya

    On September 23, 2008 at 6:37 am


    nice one!!

    keep itup

  3. swapna

    On September 23, 2008 at 8:25 am


    this is impressive…..

  4. BC Doan

    On September 23, 2008 at 12:47 pm


    Incredible article, and informative..It’s great to see how far we have come!

  5. neelam pandey

    On September 23, 2008 at 2:10 pm


    very informative article!!

  6. Jaison

    On September 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm


    Well written article. Keep up the good work

  7. Lauren Axelrod

    On September 23, 2008 at 3:11 pm


    I remember some of these. Brings back memories. Great informative historical piece.

  8. Ruby Hawk

    On September 23, 2008 at 9:09 pm


    Isn’t it amazing how far computers have come in such a short time. Unbelievable. I have stumbled this article.

  9. claris

    On September 23, 2008 at 10:24 pm


    very informative article, great history of computers

  10. CHAN LEE PENG

    On September 23, 2008 at 10:57 pm


    Very thorough reseach! Thanks and take care!

  11. valli

    On September 23, 2008 at 11:41 pm


    Thank you all for the nice feedback.

  12. Anne Lyken-Garner

    On September 24, 2008 at 4:21 am


    A super interesting article. The first generation computers are way too big, but generating a lot of heat, may not be a totally bad thing. Think of all the heating bills you could save, if you could just turn your computer on and get some.

  13. Alexa Gates

    On September 30, 2008 at 3:05 pm


    great article! I really enjoyed it!

  14. ashley

    On January 20, 2009 at 10:04 pm


    it’s really a great article! i also really enjoyed it!

  15. Akisanya Oluwaseun

    On November 11, 2009 at 4:02 pm


    Simply wonderfull. It was a job well done!

  16. tanushri

    On January 14, 2011 at 10:02 am


    its very nice.

  17. Sundhar

    On May 1, 2011 at 9:24 am


    just not available in generation years but very useful article

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