Computer

 What is computer

A computer is an device that accepts data from the user, processes it, produces results, displays them to the users, and stores the results for future usage.

Data may be a collection of unorganized facts & figures and doesn't provide any longer information regarding patterns, context, etc. Hence data means "unstructured facts and figures".

Information may be a structured data i.e. organized meaningful and processed data. To process the info and convert into information, a computer is employed .

 History of computer

The computer as we all know it today had its beginning with a 19th century English mathematics professor name Charles Babbage.

                                     

He designed the Analytical Engine and it had been this design that the essential framework of the computers of today are supported .

Generations of Computers

A generation of computers refers to the precise improvements in technology with time. In 1946, electronic pathways called circuits were developed to perform the counting. It replaced the gears and other mechanical parts used for counting in previous computing machines.

In each new generation, the circuits became smaller and more advanced than the previous generation circuits. The miniaturization helped increase the speed, memory and power of computers. There are five generations of computers which are described below;

First Generation Computers

The first generation (1946-1959) computers were slow, huge and expensive. In these computers, vacuum tubes were used because the basic components of CPU and memory. These computers were mainly trusted batch OS and punch cards. mag tape and paper were used as output and input devices during this generation;

Some of the favored first generation computers are;

ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

EDVAC ( Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)

UNIVACI( Universal Automatic Computer)

IBM-701

IBM-650

Second Generation Computers

The second generation (1959-1965) was the age of the transistor computers. These computers used transistors which were cheap, compact and consuming less power; it made transistor computers faster than the primary generation computers.

                       

In this generation, magnetic cores were used because the primary memory and magnetic disk and tapes were used because the auxiliary storage . programming language and programming languages like COBOL and FORTRAN, and execution and multiprogramming operating systems were utilized in these computers.

Some of the favored second generation computers are;

IBM 1620

IBM 7094

CDC 1604

CDC 3600

UNIVAC 1108