Table of comparative characteristics of computer generations. Generations of computers. Fundamentals of Computer Science

The era of electronic computers began in the 40s of the 20th century and is associated with the work of such theorists and practitioners computer technology like Alan Turing (Great Britain), Konrad Zuse (Germany), Claude Shannon, John Atanasoff, Howard Aiken, Presper Eckert, John von Neumann (USA) and other scientists and engineers.

In 1943, by order of the US Navy with financial and technical support IBM, under the leadership of G. Eiken, created the first universal digital computer, Mark 1. It reached 17 m in length and more than 2.5 m in height. Electromechanical relays were used as switching devices; data was entered on punched tape in the decimal number system. This machine could add and subtract 23-digit numbers in 0.3 seconds, multiply two numbers in 3 seconds, and was used to calculate the trajectory of artillery shells.

Two years earlier in Germany, under the leadership of K. Zuse, the Z-3 electromechanical computer was created, based on binary system Reckoning. This machine was significantly smaller than Aiken's machine and much cheaper to produce. It was used for calculations related to the design of aircraft and missiles. But its further development (in particular, the idea of ​​transferring to vacuum vacuum tubes) did not receive support from the German government.

In Great Britain, at the end of 1943, the Colossus computer went into operation, which contained about 2,000 vacuum tubes instead of electromechanical relays. The mathematician A. Turing took an active part in its development with his ideas on formalizing the description of computational problems. But this machine was highly specialized: it was designed to decipher German codes by trying various options. Processing speed reached 5000 characters per second.

The first tube universal digital computer is considered to be ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), which was created in 1946 by order of the US Department of Defense under the leadership of P. Eckert. It contained more than 17,000 vacuum tubes and worked with decimal arithmetic. In terms of its size (about 6 m in height and 26 m in length), the machine was more than twice as large as the Mark-1, but its speed was much greater - up to 300 multiplication operations per second. Calculations were carried out on this computer to confirm the fundamental possibility of creating a hydrogen bomb.

The next model (1945-1951) from the same developers, the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) machine, had a more capacious internal memory into which it was possible to write not only data, but also a program. The coding system was already binary, which made it possible to significantly reduce the number of vacuum tubes.

The talented mathematician D. von Neumann took part in this development as a consultant. In 1945, he published a "Preliminary Report on the EDVAC Machine", in which he described not only the specific machine, but also managed to outline the formal, logical organization of the computer, identifying and detailing the key components of what is now called the "von Neumann architecture" (Fig. 1).

The starting point for the history of our domestic computer technology is considered to be 1948, when employees of the Energy Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences Isaac Brook and Bashir Rameev received an author's certificate for the invention "Automatic Digital Computer". In the same 1948, at the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, under the leadership of Academician Sergei Lebedev, work began on a project to create an MESM - a small electronic calculating machine.

In the period from 1948 to 1952. prototypes were created, single copies of computers, which, just like in the USA, were used simultaneously both for special important calculations(often classified), and for debugging design and technological solutions.
Rice. 1 - Architecture of the "von Neumann machine"

IN further work in the field of computer creation were carried out in several directions.

For example, projects S.A. Lebedeva. MESM, commissioned in December 1951, became the first operating computer in the USSR. In 1953 S.A. Lebedev became director of the Moscow Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology (ITM and VT) and led the development of a series of famous BESM (large electronic calculating machines): from BESM-1 to BESM-6. Each machine in this series at the time of its creation was the best in the class of mainframe computers.

BESM-1 (1953) had 5000 vacuum tubes and performed 8...10 thousand operations per second. Its feature was the introduction of operations on floating point numbers, providing a wide range of numbers used. On BESM-1, three types of RAM with a capacity of 1024 39-bit words were tested in real operation:

1. on electroacoustic mercury tubes (delay lines); this type of memory was used in EDSAC and EDVAC;
2. on cathode ray tubes (potentialoscopes);
3. on ferrite magnetic cores.

External memory was made on magnetic drums and magnetic tapes.

A special place in the history of the development of domestic computer technology is occupied by BESM-6, mass-produced since 1967 for 17 years. Its architecture implemented the principle of parallelization of computing processes, and its performance - 1 million operations per second - was a record for the mid-60s. The first full-fledged operating systems, powerful translators, a valuable library of standard subroutines that implement numerical methods for solving various problems, all domestically produced.

By the end of the 60s, about 20 types of computers were produced in our country general purpose- BESM series (Moscow, S.A. Lebedev), Ural (Penza, B.I. Rameev), Dnepr, Mir (Kyiv, V.M. Glushkov), Minsk (Minsk, V. Przhiyalkovsky) and others, as well as specialized vehicles mainly for the defense department. By the way, unlike the West, where the “engines of progress” in the field of computer technology were not only the military, but also representatives of the business world, in the USSR they were only the military. But gradually, scientists, business executives, and officials began to realize the role of computers in the country’s economy and the urgent need to develop a new generation of machines.

The question arose about the transition to the computer industry. In December 1969, at the government level, it was decided to select the IBM S/360 series of machines as the industrial standard for the unified series of universal computers (EC computers). The first car of this series, the ES-1020, was released in 1971.
The production of EC computers was established jointly with other socialist countries within the framework of the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). Many scientists opposed copying IBM systems, but could not offer anything in return as a single standard.
Certainly, ideal option there would be implementation architectural principles IBM, in collaboration with the company itself, and not the family of almost five years ago, but the most modern models, and combined with comprehensive support for our own developments. But the state did not have enough funds for everything, and they went for more simple option. Thus began the decline of the domestic computing industry.
Let us note that the lag behind the West was not due to the decision to copy IBM machines. Technological base production of the elements on which computers were built began to lag behind the world rate at an alarming rate. The more funds needed to be invested in the development of microelectronics, the more difficult it was to maintain the required level. Lag element base, the sluggishness of the centralized economy, the lack of competition, the dependence of developers and manufacturers on Gosplan officials did not make it possible to repeat the computer revolution that took place during the years of the creation of the EU in the West.

If we take its elemental base as the main characteristic of a computer, then four generations can be distinguished in the history of their development (table).
Table - Main characteristics of the computer different generations

What do we call fifth generation computers?
Currently, several fundamentally different areas are being worked on:

1. an optical computer in which all components will be replaced by their optical counterparts (optical repeaters, fiber optic lines communications, memory based on the principles of holography;
2. a molecular computer, the operating principle of which will be based on the ability of some molecules to be in different states;
3. a quantum computer consisting of subatomic-sized components and operating on the principles of quantum mechanics.

The first projects of electronic computers (computers) appeared in the late 30s - early 40s of the XX century. Let us note that the technical prerequisites for this had already been created, electronics and computing and analytical computer technology were developing. In 1904, the first tube diode was invented, and in 1906, the first triode (ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙtwo- and three-electrode vacuum tube); in 1918 - electronic relay (tube trigger) Trigger circuits began to be widely used in electronics for switching and relay switching.

Another technical prerequisite for the creation of a computer was the development of electromechanical computing and analytical equipment. Thanks to the accumulated experience in the development of computer technology in the mid-30s, it became possible to create software-controlled computers, and the construction of computers on electronic circuits opened up broad prospects associated with increased reliability and speed.

Computers appeared when there was an urgent need to carry out labor-intensive and accurate calculations. The level of progress in such areas of science and technology, such as nuclear energy and aerospace research, largely depended on the ability to perform complex calculations that could not be carried out within the framework of electromechanical calculating machines. A transition to computers operating with greater productivity was required.

In the history of computer development, there are five stages that span five generations of computers.

Machine period first generation begins with the transition to mass production of computers in the early 50s of the 20th century. They implemented the basic principles proposed by John von Neumann.

1. The principle of a stored program. The machine has a memory in which the program, data and results of intermediate calculations are stored. The program is entered into the machine, just like data, in the form of binary codes (and not by the plug-in method, i.e. by switching wires in a certain sequence)

2. Address principle. The command does not indicate the numbers themselves, on which arithmetic operations must be performed, but the addresses of the memory cells where these numbers are located.

3. Automatism. Once the program and data are entered, the machine operates automatically, carrying out the program's instructions without human intervention. It is worth saying that for this purpose the machine remembers the address of the command being executed, and each command contains an indication of the address of the next command. An instruction can be one of three types: implicit (go to the command next at the address after the one being executed), unconditional (go to the command at a given address), conditional (check a given condition and, depending on its fulfillment, go to a command at a particular address )

4. Forwarding. Memory addresses specified in the command can be calculated and converted as numbers.

The structure of the computer, in which the von Neumann principles are implemented, was subsequently called the “von Neumann” (or classical) structure All further development The computer followed two paths: improving the von Neumann structure and searching for new structures.

Note that the technical basis of the elemental base of the processors of the first computers were electronic vacuum tubes (EVL), and cathode ray tubes (CRT) were used as random access memory devices. These were bulky machines, taking up a lot of space and consuming a lot of electricity. It is worth noting that they performed several thousand operations per second and had a memory of several thousand machine words. These machines assumed an exclusive mode of use, i.e. The user had all the resources of the machine and its control at his disposal. The programmer narrated the program in machine code and debugged it at the console of the machine, which was completely at his disposal during debugging. At ϶ᴛᴏm 90% of the time the machine was idle waiting for commands, i.e. the use of machine resources was ineffective due to the lack of a developed operating system. First generation computers were used mainly for scientific calculations. The first domestic computer was MESM (small electronic calculating machine), developed in 1947 - 1951. under the leadership of academician S.A. Lebedeva. In 1952, BESM (large electronic calculating machine), created under the leadership of S.A., was put into operation. Lebedeva. In 1955, the production of the small computer “Ural-1” began (project manager B.I. Rameev). An example of a foreign serial computer model would be the IBM-701 (USA)

Second generation The computer (late 50s - mid 60s) is called transistor-ferrite, since transistors (solid diodes and triodes) replaced vacuum tubes in processors, and ferrite (magnetizable) cores replaced cathode ray tubes in random access memory devices.

The use of transistors has significantly influenced the characteristics and structure of machines. Transistor circuits allowed to increase the installation density electronic equipment by an order of magnitude and significantly (several orders of magnitude) reduce energy consumption. The service life of transistors was two to three orders of magnitude longer than the service life of vacuum tubes. The speed of computers increased to hundreds of thousands of operations per second, and memory - to tens of thousands of machine words.

The creation of long-term memory on magnetic disks and tapes, as well as the ability to connect a variable composition of external devices to a computer, significantly expanded the functionality of computers.

In the organization of the computing process, a major achievement was the time combination of calculations and input/output of information, the transition from the exclusive use of machine resources to batch processing. Computer tasks (on punched cards, magnetic tapes or disks) were collected into a package, which was processed without interruption between tasks. This allowed for more economical use of machine resources.

In programming, programming methods in symbolic notation were developed, the first algorithmic languages ​​and translators from these languages ​​were created, libraries were created standard programs.

Domestic computers, such as BESM-4, M-220, and Minsk-32, have found the most widespread use. A typical representative of a second-generation foreign computer will be the IBM-7090.

Third generation The computer (late 60s - early 70s) is characterized by the appearance of integrated semiconductor circuits (instead of individual transistors) as the elemental base of the processor, which led to a further increase in speed to a million operations per second and memory to hundreds of thousands of words.

Third-generation computers are also characterized by major shifts in computer architecture, their software, and the organization of human-machine interaction. This is, first of all, the presence of a developed configuration of external devices (alphanumeric terminals, plotters, etc.) using standard means interface, a developed operating system that ensures operation in multiprogram mode (several programs simultaneously located in RAM share processor resources) The method of using computer resources is time sharing mode together with batch processing. High speed allows the user service time to be divided into quantums, processing each task during the quantum, returning to the user in such a short time that behind the display he has the illusion that he is the only one using the machine’s resources.

The creation of a family of computers on integrated circuits with a wide range of computing power and compatible from bottom to top at the level of machine languages, external devices, design modules and systems of elements played a decisive role in the development of computing technology throughout the world. Software compatibility from bottom to top of machines of the same family implies that any program executed on a younger machine should be executed on an older one without any modifications.

Families of minicomputers have also become widespread. The essence of their design solution was such minimization of equipment central processor, which made it possible, at the level of technology of that time, to create universal computers capable of carrying out control in real time, at which the rate of issuing control actions on the control object is coordinated with the speed of processes in that object.

In our country, during the period of third generation machines, it was created Unified System A computer (ES COMPUTER), basically copying the IBM-360 and IBM-370, as well as a series of mini-computers SM COMPUTER, oriented towards foreign models. The contribution of domestic science to the global development of electronic computing technology in this period is associated with the industrial implementation of the M-10 multiprocessor computer.

During the period of third-generation machines, a major shift occurred in the field of application of computers. If earlier computers were used mainly for scientific and technical calculations, then in the 60s and 70s the first place began to be occupied by the processing of symbolic information, mainly economic.

The machines of the ES computer series have a universal purpose, and the main area of ​​application of the SM computer will be the automation of technological processes, scientific experiments and testing facilities, and design work.

Transition to machines fourth generation - Computers on large-scale integrated circuits (LSI) - took place in the second half of the 70s and ended approximately by 1980. Note that now hundreds of thousands of electronic elements began to be placed on one crystal measuring 1 cm 2. The speed and memory capacity increased tens of thousands of times compared to the first generation machines and amounted to approximately 10 9 op/s and 10 7 words ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ.

The characteristic features of fourth generation machines will be the close connection between hardware and software implementations in the structure of the machine, a departure from the principle of minimizing hardware and entrusting it with program functions, which became possible due to the relatively low cost of the LSI.

The development of computer architecture during the period of fourth generation machines led to the emergence of structures in which the computing process can proceed through several branches in parallel, which leads to an increase in the performance of computers. The idea of ​​parallelism was technically realized in multiprocessor systems, consisting of two or more interconnected processors sharing memory and controlled by a common operating system.

As a result of the increased speed of the computer, it became possible to expand the RAM through the introduction of virtual memory based on page exchange of information between external and main memory.

The greatest achievement associated with the use of LSI was the creation of microprocessors, and then microcomputers based on them. If previous generations of computers required special premises, a ventilation system, and special equipment for power supply for their location, then the requirements for the operation of microcomputers are no different from the operating conditions of household electrical appliances. At the same time, they have fairly high productivity, are economical to operate and are cheap. Microcomputers can be used in measuring complexes, numerical control systems program control, in control systems for various purposes.

Further development of microcomputers led to the creation of personal computers (PCs), the widespread use of which began in 1975, when IBM released the first personal computer, the IBM PC. Now such computers (compatible with IBM PC) make up about 90% of all PCs produced in the world. The PC implements the principle of open architecture, which means that as the characteristics of the main PC units improve, obsolete parts can be easily replaced, and the upgraded unit will be compatible with previously used equipment. Other advantages of a PC will be developed dialogue tools, high reliability, ease of use, and the availability of software covering almost all areas of human activity.

During the period of fourth-generation machines, supercomputers also began to be mass-produced. The increase in the degree of integration of LSI has become the technological basis of computer productivity. In several serial models A performance of over 1 billion operations per second was achieved. Among the most significant developments of fourth-generation machines is the Krey-3 computer, designed on the basis of the fundamental new technology— replacement of a silicon crystal with gallium arsenide, with a productivity of up to 16 billion operations per second. An example of a domestic supercomputer will be the Elbrus multiprocessor computing complex with a speed of up to 1.2-10 8 op/s.

Since the late 80s, the time has come in the history of the development of computer technology fifth generation COMPUTER. Note that the technological, design, structural and architectural ideas of fifth-generation machines are fundamentally different from machines of previous generations. First of all, their structure and architecture differ from von Neumann (classical) The high speed of arithmetic calculations is complemented by high speeds logical inference. Even speed is supposed to be expressed in inference units. The machine consists of several blocks. The communication block provides an interface between the user and the computer in natural language, and the discipline of programming as a science for the user will cease to be relevant in the future. Do not forget that an important place in the structure of a computer is occupied by a block representing the knowledge base, in which the knowledge accumulated by humanity in various subject areas is stored, which is constantly expanding and replenished. The next block, called the solver, organizes the preparation of a program for solving the problem based on knowledge obtained from the knowledge base and initial data obtained from the communication block. The core of the computing system is a high-performance computer. The material was published on http://site

Due to the emergence of a new basic structure Computers in fifth-generation machines can widely use models and tools developed in the field of artificial intelligence.

Electronic computer (computer) is a device for processing information. Information processing refers to the process of converting source data into results.

The fundamental feature modern computers What distinguishes them from all previously used computer technology is their ability to work automatically given program without direct human participation in the computing process.

Computer is the most effective remedy to solve economic problems. The use of computers allows: to increase the level of automation of managerial work; reduce time to receive necessary solutions; dramatically reduce the number of errors in calculations; increase the reliability of management personnel; makes it possible to increase the volume of processed information; search for optimal solutions; perform results control functions; transmit data over a distance; create automated data banks; perform data analysis in the process of information processing, etc.

There are 4 main generations of computers: . But dividing computer equipment into generations is a very conditional, non-strict classification according to the degree of development of hardware and software, as well as ways to communicate with a computer. The idea of ​​dividing cars into generations was brought to life by the fact that during the short history of its development computer equipment has made a great evolution, both in terms of the element base (lamps, transistors, microcircuits, etc.), and in the sense of changing its structure, the emergence of new opportunities, expanding the scope of applications and the nature of use.

TO FIRST GENERATION (1945-1955) include vehicles built on electronic incandescent lamps. These machines were very expensive, took up huge areas, were not entirely reliable in operation, had a low information processing speed and could store very little data. Each machine has its own language, no OS. Punched cards, punched tapes, and magnetic tapes were used. They were created in single copies and were used mainly for military and scientific purposes. Typical examples of first generation machines include: American computers UNIVAC, IBM-701, IBM-704, as well as Soviet BESM and M-20 vehicles. The typical data processing speed for first-generation machines was 10-20 thousand operations per second.

Co. TO THE SECOND GENERATION (1955-1965) include machines built on transistor elements. These machines have significantly reduced their cost and size, and increased their reliability, operating speed, and the amount of stored information. The data processing speed of second-generation machines has increased to 1 million operations per second. The first operating systems and the first programming languages ​​appeared: Forton (1957), Algon (1959). Information storage media: magnetic drums, magnetic disks. Representatives: IBM 604, 608, 702.

Cars THIRD GENERATION (1965-1980) made on integrated circuits. The area of ​​such a scheme is about one square millimeter, but in its own way functionality an integrated circuit is equivalent to hundreds or thousands of transistor elements. Due to its very small size and thickness, an integrated circuit is sometimes called microcircuit, and also chip(chip - thin piece). The move from transistors to integrated circuits changed the cost, size, reliability, speed, and capacity of machines. These are machines of the IBM/360 family. The popularity of these machines turned out to be so great that all over the world they began to be copied or produced with similar functionality and the same methods of encoding and processing information. Moreover, programs prepared for execution on IBM machines were successfully executed on their analogues, just as programs written for execution on analogues could be executed on IBM machines. Such machine models are usually called software-compatible. In our country, the EC series of computers, which included about two dozen models of different power, was such software compatible with the IBM/360 family. From the third generation computers are becoming widely available and widely used to solve a wide variety of problems. Characteristic of this time is the collective use of machines, since they are still quite expensive, occupy large areas and require complex and expensive maintenance. The carriers of initial information are still punched cards and punched tapes, although a significant amount of information is already concentrated on magnetic media - disks and tapes. The information processing speed of third-generation machines reached several million operations per second. RAM appeared - hundreds of KB. Programming languages: BASIC (1965), Pascal (1970), C (1972). Program compatibility has appeared.

FOURTH GENERATION (1980-present). There is a transition from conventional integrated circuits to large-scale integrated circuits and ultra-large-scale integrated circuits (LSI and VLSI). If conventional integrated circuits are equivalent to thousands of transistor elements, then large integrated circuits are already replacing tens and hundreds of thousands of such elements. Among them, we should mention the IBM/370 family of machines, as well as the IBM 196 model, the speed of which reached 15 million operations per second. Domestic representatives of fourth generation machines are machines of the Elbrus family. A distinctive feature of the fourth generation is the presence in one machine of several (usually 2-6, sometimes up to several hundred or even thousands) central, main information processing devices - processors that can duplicate each other or independently perform calculations. This structure allows you to dramatically increase the reliability of machines and the speed of calculations. Another important feature is the emergence of powerful tools that ensure the operation of computer networks. This made it possible to subsequently create and develop on their basis global, worldwide computer networks. Supercomputers (spacecraft) and personal computers appeared. Non-professional users appeared. RAM up to several GB. Multiprocessor systems, computer networks, multimedia (graphics, animation, sound).

In computers FIFTH GENERATION There will be a qualitative transition from data processing to knowledge processing. The architecture of future generation computers will contain two main blocks. One of them is a traditional computer. But now it is deprived of communication with the user. This connection is carried out by a block called the “intelligent interface”. Its task is to understand text written in natural language and containing the condition of the problem, and translate it into a working computer program.

In accordance with the element base and level of software development, four real generations of computers are distinguished: brief description which are shown in the table:

The evolution of computer use. Fifth generation computer project

The considered program design technology implements sequential conversion of a number of signals, i.e. their encoding:

This scheme has two disadvantages:

1. the process of preparing a problem for solution on a computer is disproportionately longer than the solution itself: many months of preparing a problem are not comparable to several minutes of solving it on a computer;

1. The “customer – computer” chain generally works as faulty phone due to the fact that in the process of communication the participants in this chain use several languages ​​(natural, mathematical, graphic symbols, programming language, etc.), some of which are ambiguous in the meaning of the statements. Because of this, the results of solving the problem must be agreed upon with the customer and, possibly, changes must be made to the program. This also lengthens the process of preparing a software product.

Thus, the duration of preparation of a problem for its automated solution is one of the reasons for improving the traditional technology of this procedure.

The second reason is related to the objective evolution of computer use, which is shown in the table:

As can be seen from the table, the computer “approaches” the end user, who is not well trained in communicating with a computer and experiences significant difficulties in solving his problems. applied problems using a computer. In this regard, the problem of organizing a new type of interaction between the end user and the computer arises. This problem was expressed in the fifth generation computer project, which was published in the early 80s of the 20th century in Japan.

The main idea of ​​this project is to make communication between the end user and a computer as simple as possible, similar to communication with any household appliance. To solve this problem, the following directions were proposed:

1. development simple interface, allowing the end user to dialogue with the computer to solve their problems. Such an interface can be organized in two ways: natural language and graphical. Supporting natural language dialogue is a very complex and not yet solved problem. What is real is creation GUI, which is done in a number of software products, for example, in the Windows’xx OS. This interface is clear and does not require special knowledge. However, the development of accessible interfaces solves the problem only half - it allows the end user to access pre-designed software without participating in its development;

1. involving the end user in the design of software products. This direction would allow the customer to be included directly in the process of creating programs, which would ultimately reduce the development time of software products and, possibly, improve their quality. This technology is associated with the automatic formalization of the end user’s professional knowledge and involves two stages of software product design:

• The programmer creates an “empty” universal software shell that can be filled with specific knowledge and use it to solve practical problems. For example, this shell could be filled with rules for drawing up quarterly and other balance sheets of enterprises, and then it could solve accounting problems. Or it was possible to add there the rules for enrolling applicants, which were outlined earlier and used in the examples. In this case, we would get a software product similar to what we designed above, etc.;
• end user fills the program shell created by the programmer, introducing into it knowledge, the bearer of which (to some extent) subject area) he is. The clear interface discussed above can be used here. After this, the software product is ready for use.

Thus, the technology for preparing applied problems for solution on a computer proposed in the fifth-generation computer project includes two stages and is presented in the figure:

Programmer

a) the programmer creates an empty software shell;

Customer

b) the customer (end user) fills the shell with knowledge

Filled with the knowledge of the end user, the software shell is ready to solve those application problems, the rules for solving which were entered into it by the end user. Thus, the operation of the software product begins.

The proposed technology has many serious problems associated with knowledge representation and manipulation. Nevertheless, a breakthrough in the field of design of applied software products is associated with it.

Table - Main characteristics of computers of various generations

Over the course of 50 years, several generations of computers have appeared, replacing each other. The rapid development of VT throughout the world is determined only by advanced element base and architectural solutions.
Since a computer is a system consisting of hardware and software, it is natural to understand a generation as computer models characterized by the same technological and software solutions (element base, logical architecture, software). Meanwhile, in a number of cases it turns out to be very difficult to classify VT by generation, because the line between them becomes more and more blurred from generation to generation.
First generation.
The element base is electronic tubes and relays; RAM was performed on triggers, later on ferrite cores. Reliability is low, a cooling system was required; Computers had significant dimensions. Performance - 5 - 30 thousand arithmetic op/s; Programming - in computer codes (machine code), later autocodes and assemblers appeared. Programming was carried out by a narrow circle of mathematicians, physicists, and electronics engineers. First generation computers were used mainly for scientific and technical calculations.

Second generation.
Semiconductor element base. Reliability and performance are significantly increased, dimensions and power consumption are reduced. Development of input/output facilities, external memory. A number of progressive architectural solutions and further development of programming technology - time sharing mode and multiprogramming mode (combining the work of the central processor for data processing and input/output channels, as well as parallelization of operations for fetching commands and data from memory)
Within the second generation, the differentiation of computers into small, medium and large began to clearly appear. The scope of application of computers to solve problems - planning, economic, production process management, etc. - has expanded significantly.
Are being created automated systems management (ACS) of enterprises, entire industries and technological processes(ACSTP). The end of the 50s is characterized by the emergence of a number of problem-oriented high-level programming languages ​​(HLPs): FORTRAN, ALGOL-60, etc. Software development began in the creation of libraries of standard programs in various languages programming and various purposes, monitors and dispatchers for controlling computer operating modes, planning its resources, which laid the foundation for the concepts of next-generation operating systems.

Third generation.
Element base on integrated circuits (IC). A series of computer models appear that are software compatible from the bottom up and have increasing capabilities from model to model. The logical architecture of computers and their peripheral equipment, which significantly expanded the functionality and computing capabilities. Operating systems (OS) become part of a computer. Many tasks of managing memory, input/output devices and other resources began to be taken over by the OS or directly by the computer hardware. Software is becoming powerful: database management systems (DBMS), design automation systems (CAD) for various purposes are appearing, automated control systems and process control systems are being improved. Much attention is paid to the creation of application program packages (APP) for various purposes.
Programming languages ​​and systems are developing. Examples: - series of IBM/360 models, USA, serial production-since 1964; -EU Computers, USSR and CMEA countries since 1972.
Fourth generation.
The element base is becoming large-scale (LSI) and ultra-large-scale (VLSI) integrated circuits. Computers were already designed for the efficient use of software (for example, UNIX-like computers, in the best possible way immersed in a UNIX software environment; Prolog machines focused on artificial intelligence tasks); modern nuclear power plants. Telecommunications information processing is rapidly developing by improving the quality of communication channels using satellite communications. National and transnational information and computer networks are being created, which make it possible to talk about the beginning of the computerization of human society as a whole.
Further intellectualization of computer technology is determined by the creation of more developed human-computer interfaces, knowledge bases, expert systems, parallel programming systems, etc.
The element base has made it possible to achieve great success in miniaturization, increasing the reliability and performance of computers. Micro- and mini-computers have appeared, surpassing the capabilities of medium-sized and large computers of the previous generation at a significantly lower cost. The production technology of VLSI-based processors accelerated the pace of computer production and made it possible to introduce computers to the broad masses of society. With the advent of a universal processor on a single chip (microprocessor Intel-4004, 1971), the era of the PC began.
The first PC can be considered the Altair-8800, created on the basis of the Intel-8080, in 1974. E.Roberts. P. Allen and W. Gates created a translator from the popular Basic language, significantly increasing the intelligence of the first PC (later the famous company Microsoft Inc was founded). The face of the 4th generation is largely determined by the creation of supercomputers characterized by high performance(average performance 50 - 130 megaflops. 1 megaflops = 1 million operations per second with floating point) and non-traditional architecture (the principle of parallelization based on pipelined processing of commands). Supercomputers are used in solving problems of mathematical physics, cosmology and astronomy, modeling complex systems etc. Since powerful computers play and will continue to play an important switching role in networks, network issues are often discussed together with questions on super-computers. Among the domestic developments of super-computers, one can name the Elbrus series machines, the PS-2000 and PS-3000 computing systems , containing up to 64 processors controlled by a common command stream, performance on a number of tasks was achieved on the order of 200 megaflops. At the same time, given the complexity of developing and implementing modern supercomputer projects that require intensive basic research in the field of computational sciences, electronic technologies, high production standards, serious financial costs, it seems very unlikely that in the foreseeable future the creation of domestic super-computers, in basic characteristics not inferior to the best foreign models.
It should be noted that with the transition to IP technology for computer production, the defining emphasis of generations is increasingly shifting from the element base to other indicators: logical architecture, software, user interface, application areas, etc.
Fifth generation.