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This article mainly introduces what are the four ages experienced by computers? Has a certain reference value, interested friends can refer to, I hope you can learn a lot after reading this article, the following let the editor take you to understand.

Computers have experienced four ages: first, the first generation is the tube digital computer from 1946 to 1958; second, the second generation is the transistor digital computer from 1958 to 1964; third, the third generation is the integrated circuit digital computer from 1964 to 1970; fourth, the fourth generation is the large-scale integrated circuit computer from 1970 to the present.

Computer (computer), commonly known as computer, is a modern electronic computing machine for high-speed computing, which can not only carry out numerical calculation, but also logical calculation, but also has the function of storage and memory. It is a modern intelligent electronic device that can run according to the program and process large amounts of data automatically and at high speed.

The evolution of computing tools has gone through different stages from simple to complex, from low-level to high-level, such as from knot in "knot Chronicle" to arithmetic, abacus ruler, mechanical computer and so on. They not only played their own historical roles in different historical periods, but also inspired the idea of the development of modern electronic computers.

In 1889, Herman Holly, an American scientist, developed an electric watchmaker based on electricity, which was used to store computational data.

In 1930, American scientist Van Neva Bush built the world's first analog electronic computer.

On February 14, 1946, the world's first electronic computer, the Electronic Digital Integration computer (ENIAC Electronic Numerical And Calculator), customized by the US military, came out at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. ENIAC (Chinese name: Enyak) is developed by the Oberdeen weapon proving ground in the United States to meet the needs of calculating ballistics. This calculator uses 17840 electronic tubes with a size of 80 feet by 8 feet, weighs 28 tons (tons) and consumes 170kW. Its operation speed is 5000 addition operations per second, and the cost is about 487000 US dollars. The advent of ENIAC is of epoch-making significance and indicates the arrival of the electronic computer era. In the next 60 years, computer technology has developed at an astonishing speed, and the performance-to-price ratio of any technology has increased by 6 orders of magnitude in 30 years.

First Generation: tube Digital computer (1946-1958)

In terms of hardware, the logic element uses vacuum tube, the main memory uses mercury delay line, cathode ray oscilloscope tube electrostatic memory, magnetic drum, magnetic core, and the external memory uses magnetic tape. Machine language and assembly language are used in software. The main application fields are military and scientific computing.

The disadvantages are large size, high power consumption and poor reliability. Slow (usually thousands to tens of thousands of times per second) and expensive, but laid the foundation for future computer development.

The second generation: transistor digital computers (1958-1964)

The application fields of operating systems, high-level languages and their compilers in software are mainly scientific computing and transaction processing, and begin to enter the field of industrial control. It is characterized by reduced size, reduced energy consumption, improved reliability, improved operation speed (generally 100000 times per second, up to 3 million times), and the performance is much higher than that of the first generation computer.

The third generation: integrated circuit digital computer (1964-1970)

In terms of hardware, the logic components use small and medium-scale integrated circuits (MSI, SSI), and the main memory still uses magnetic cores. In the aspect of software, there are time-sharing operating system and structured and large-scale programming methods. It is characterized by faster speed (usually millions to tens of millions of times per second), significant improvement in reliability, further decline in prices, and products moving towards generalization, serialization and standardization. The field of application begins to enter the field of word processing and graphics and image processing.

The fourth generation: large-scale integrated circuit computers (1970-present)

In terms of hardware, the logic components use large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits (LSI and VLSI). In the aspect of software, there are database management system, network management system and object-oriented language. In 1971, the world's first microprocessor was born in Silicon Valley in the United States, ushering in a new era of microcomputers. The application field is gradually moving from scientific computing, transaction management and process control to the family.

Due to the development of integration technology, semiconductor chips are more integrated, each chip can hold tens of thousands or even millions of transistors, and the calculator and controller can be concentrated on one chip, resulting in the emergence of microprocessors, and can be assembled into microcomputers with microprocessors and large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits, which is what we often call microcomputers or PCs. The microcomputer is small, cheap and easy to use, but its function and computing speed have reached or even exceeded that of the mainframe computer in the past. On the other hand, a variety of logic chips made from large-scale and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits have been made into giant computers that are not very large, but can operate at a speed of up to 100 million or even billions of times. Following the development of the Galaxy Ⅰ supercomputer, which has 100 million operations per second in 1983, the Galaxy Ⅱ general parallel supercomputer was developed in 1993. This period also produced a new generation of programming languages, database management systems and network software.

With the change of physical elements and devices, not only the host computer has undergone upgrading, but also its external equipment is constantly changing. For example, the external memory has developed from the initial cathode ray display tube to the magnetic core and drum, and then to a general-purpose disk, and now there is a smaller, larger and faster CD-ROM.

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