por What is the first generation of computers?
The first generation of computers This was the initial phase in which these electronic machines were used, during the period from 1940 to 1956. Computers used vacuum tube technology both for calculation and for storage and control purposes.
In the early first generation computers the concept of vacuum tubes was used. These were made of glass and contained a filament inside. The evolution of the computer began from the 16th century until it reached the form in which it can be seen today. However, today’s computer has also undergone rapid changes over the last fifty years.
This period, during which the evolution of the computer took place, can be divided into several distinct phases, based on the type of switching circuitry, known as computer generations.
Thus, computer generations are the different stages in the evolution of electronic circuits, hardware, software, programming languages, and other technological developments.
Situation initial
The first electronic computers were made during the 1940s. Since then, there have been a number of radical advances in electronics.
These computers were so huge that they took up entire rooms. To carry out operations they relied on the use of machine language, which was the lowest level programming language that computers understood, and they could only solve one problem at a time.
The vacuum tube was an electronic component that had much lower working efficiency. Therefore, it could not function properly without a large cooling system so that it would not be damaged.
The input medium for first generation computers was based on punched cards, and the output was displayed in printouts. It took operators days and even weeks to lay out the wiring to solve a new problem.
Origin and history of the first generation
Computer
The mathematician and physicist John Atanasoff, searching for ways to solve equations automatically, set about clarifying his thoughts in 1937, noting the basic characteristics of an electronic computing machine.
This machine solved equations, although it could not be programmed. It was produced with the support of Clifford Berry.
computing goes electronic
World War II acted as a midwife for the birth of the modern electronic computer. Military demands for calculations and also high war budgets stimulated innovation.
The first electronic computers were machines built for specific tasks. Setting them up was cumbersome and time consuming.
The first electronic computer, called the ENIAC, was declassified at the end of World War II, prompting inquiries from engineers around the world about how they could build an equal or better one.
The team that worked on ENIAC was the first to recognize the importance of the concept of having the program stored inside the computer.
These early machines were usually controlled by wiring that connected to the motherboard or by a series of addresses encoded on paper tape.
Thus, although these machines were clearly programmable, their programs were not stored internally in the computer.
john von neumann
This mathematician wrote a report establishing the conceptual framework for stored-program computers.
He encouraged the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study) not to do only theoretical studies, but that it could be put into practice by making a real computer.
moore school
This school responded in 1946 with a series of lectures. The attendees learned about the ENIAC, the general techniques for building computers, and also the new idea of storing programs in memory, which no one had done yet.
One of the attendees, Maurice Wilkes, led the British team that built the EDSAC in Cambridge in 1949.
On the other hand, Richard Snyder led the American team that completed the EDVAC at the Moore School.
The stored-program computer developed by von Neumann became operational in 1951. The IAS made his design freely available. This spread similar machines around the world.
Characteristics of the first generation of computers
Solve one problem at a time
First generation computers were defined by the fact that the operating instructions were written specifically to perform the task for which the computer was to be used.
Technology used
These computers used vacuum tubes for CPU circuitry and magnetic drums for data storage, as well as electrical switching devices.
A magnetic core memory was used as the main memory. Input devices were paper tapes or punched cards.
Processing speed
CPU speeds were extremely slow. They had slow, inefficient, and unreliable processing due to low precision. Only simple and direct numerical calculations could be performed.
Cost
Computers were very expensive to run. Computers of this generation were very large in size, occupying a space the size of a room.
In addition, they used a large amount of electricity, generating a lot of heat, which often caused them to be damaged.
Programming language
First generation computers received instructions in machine language (0 and 1) or through electrical on/off signals. There were no programming languages.
Subsequently, assembly language was developed to be used in first generation computers.
Once the world saw that a computer program was stored internally the advantages were obvious. Every university, research institute, and laboratory wanted their own.
However, there were no manufacturers of commercial electronic computers with stored programs. If you wanted one, you had to build it.
Many of these early machines were based on published designs. Others developed independently.
Software
To program the first electronic computers, instructions were given in a language that they could easily understand. That was machine language or binary.
Any instruction in this language is given in the form of sequences of 1’s and 0’s. The symbol 1 represents the presence of an electrical pulse and 0 represents the absence of an electrical pulse.
A string of 1s and 0s, such as 11101101, has a specific meaning to the computer, even though it looks like a binary number.
Writing programs in machine language was very cumbersome, which is why it was only done by experts. All instructions and data were sent to the computer in binary numerical form.
low level programming
These machines were intended for low-level operations. The systems could only solve one problem at a time. There was no assembly language and no operating system software.
Therefore, the interface with first generation computers was done through plug-in panels and machine language. Technicians wired electrical circuits by connecting numerous wires to sockets.
They were then put on specific punch cards and waited for hours for some kind of calculation while also hoping that each of the thousands of vacuum tubes would not be damaged during this process, so they would never have to go through this procedure again.
Computer work was done in batches, so in the 1950s the operating system was called a batch system.
internally stored program
The first computers combined calculations with great speed, but only after a careful process of configuring the programs had been carried out.
No one knows who came up with the innovative solution of storing in the computer’s memory the instructions that tell it what to do. It was the birth of software, used by all computers ever since.
The Manchester Experimental Machine was the first computer to run a program from memory.
Fifty-two minutes was the time this computer used to execute a 17-instruction program. Thus, in 1948, the stored-program computer was born.
Hardware
In addition to having thousands of resistors and capacitors, the first generation computers used up to more than 18,000 vacuum tubes, which meant that the computing facilities covered entire rooms.
Empty tubes
The main piece of technology for the first generation computers were vacuum tubes. From 1940 to 1956, vacuum tubes were widely used in computers, resulting in the first generation of computers.
These computers used vacuum tubes for the purposes of signal amplification and switching. The tubes were made of glass receptacles that were sealed, about the size of light bulbs.
The sealed glass allowed current to flow wirelessly from the filaments to the metal plates.
The vacuum tube was invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest. This technology was essential during the first half of the 20th century, as it was used to make televisions, radar, X-ray machines, and a wide variety of other electronic devices.
Vacuum tubes began and ended circuits by turning on and off when connected or disconnected.
means of entry and exit
Check-in and check-out was accomplished using punch cards, magnetic drums, typewriters, and punch card readers. Initially, technicians manually punched the cards with holes. This was later done using computers.
Electronic typewriters, programmed to write on a paper tape or a punch card reader, were used to print the reports.
First generation computers
ENIAC
The first working general-purpose electronic computer, called the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), was built between 1943 and 1945. It used 18,000 vacuum tubes and 70,000 resistors.
It was the first large-scale computer that worked electronically, without being slowed down by any mechanical component.
Its weight was 30 tons. She was about 30 meters long and a large space was required to install her. She could calculate at the rate of 1,900 additions per second. She was programmed with a cable that plugged into the motherboard.
It was 1,000 times faster than previous electromechanical computers, although it was a bit slow when trying to reprogram it.
It was designed and built at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering by engineers John Mauchly and Presper Eckert.
The ENIAC was used to perform war-related calculations such as…