|
|
|
|
1.3 Generation of computers
Second Generation Computers (1956-1963)
By
1948, the invention of the transistor greatly changed the computer's
development. The transistor replaced the large, cumbersome vacuum tube in
televisions, radios and computers. As a result, the size of electronic
machinery has been shrinking ever since. The transistor was at work in the
computer by 1956. Coupled with early advances in magnetic-core memory,
transistors led to second generation computers that were smaller, faster, more
reliable and more energy-efficient than their predecessors. The first
large-scale machines to take advantage of this transistor technology were early
supercomputers, Stretch by IBM and LARC by Sperry-Rand. These computers, both
developed for atomic energy laboratories, could handle an enormous amount of
data, a capability much in demand by atomic scientists. The machines were
costly, however, and tended to be too powerful for the business sector's
computing needs, thereby limiting their attractiveness. Only two LARCs were
ever installed: one in the Lawrence Radiation Labs in Livermore, California,
for which the computer was named (Livermore Atomic Research Computer) and the other
at the U.S. Navy Research and Development Center in Washington, D.C. Second
generation computers replaced machine language with assembly language, allowing
abbreviated programming codes to replace long, difficult binary codes.
Throughout the early 1960's, there were a number of commercially
successful second generation computers used in business, universities, and
government from companies such as Burroughs, Control Data, Honeywell, IBM,
Sperry-Rand, and others. These second generation computers were also of solid
state design, and contained transistors in place of vacuum tubes. They also
contained all the components we associate with the modern day computer:
printers, tape storage, disk storage, memory, operating systems, and stored
programs. One important example was the IBM 1401, which was universally
accepted throughout industry, and is considered by many to be the Model T of
the computer industry. By 1965, most large business routinely processed
financial information using second generation computers.
|
Look
what
you
can
get
Look
what
you
can
get
|
It was the stored program and programming language that gave computers
the flexibility to finally be cost effective and productive for business use.
The stored program concept meant that instructions to run a computer for a
specific function (known as a program) were held inside the computer's memory,
and could quickly be replaced by a different set of instructions for a
different function. A computer could print customer invoices and minutes later
design products or calculate paychecks. More sophisticated high-level languages
such as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) and FORTRAN (Formula
Translator) came into common use during this time, and have expanded to the
current day. These languages replaced cryptic binary machine code with words,
sentences, and mathematical formulas, making it much easier to program a
computer. New types of careers (programmer, analyst, and computer systems
expert) and the entire software industry be.g.an with second generation
computers.
Third Generation Computers (1964-1971)
Though transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube,
they still generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the computer's
sensitive internal parts. The quartz rock eliminated this problem. Jack
Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments, developed the inte.g.rated circuit
(IC) in 1958. The IC combined three electronic components onto a small silicon
disc, which was made from quartz. Scientists later managed to fit even more
components on a single chip, called a semiconductor. As a result, computers
became ever smaller as more components were squeezed onto the chip. Another
third-generation development included the use of an operating system that
allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program
that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory.
|
| |
|
|
|
|