Fifth Generation

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence

Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as “the study and design of intelligent agents” where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”

The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence—the sapience of Homo sapiens—can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine. This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Artificial intelligence has been the subject of optimism, but has also suffered setbacks and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult problems in computer science.

AI research is highly technical and specialized, deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. Subfields have grown up around particular institutions, the work of individual researchers, the solution of specific problems, longstanding differences of opinion about how AI should be done and the application of widely differing tools. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or “strong AI”) is still among the field’s long term goals.

Read other post about Computer History:

Inventors of the Modern Computer (Konrad Zuse)

Inventors of the Modern Computer (John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry)

Inventors of the Modern Computer (Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper)

The History of the ENIAC Computer

The History of the UNIVAC Computer

History of Laptop Computers

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Fourth Generation

Fourth Generation

The duration of 4th generation is from 1971 to 1985. In this era the size and the cost of computer has dramatically dropped, where as the memory and the speed of computers has increaseddrastically. These computers are based on microprocessor. The characteristics are associated with the use of chip technology, low cost memory and wide availability of a relatively small number of operating systems.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FOURTH GENERATION COMPUTERS:

• Used chips for Central Processing Unit (C.P.U.) and memory.
• Development of micro-processor.
• Very compact and smallest in size.
• Excellent speed and reliability.
• Increase in primary storage capacity
• Disks were used as secondary storage device.
• Greater versatility in software.
• Advance input/output devices were used.
• Low Cost.
• Portable computers were introduced.

Fourth generation computer systems

INTRODUCTION

This paper is presented as a discussion of fourth generation computer systems. To predict future developments in the computer industry is to speculate - to theorize on the basis of observable trends and anticipated needs. Numerous questions arise. We do not know the answers to all questions nor do we know how to obtain all the answers. The intent of this paper is to suggest reasonable approaches to developments and tp offer a solution to a fundamental EDP problem. How can computers and applications be integrated within a communication and control system? Computers of prior generations emphasized computation. Fourth generation computers, as envisioned in this paper, will emphasize a communication and control system. The characteristics of fourth generation systems are outlined in the first part of this paper and discussed in detail later. Prior to this discussion, the computer evolution, the software situation, the effects of large scale integration, and fourth generation programmipg systems are considered. While one cannot predict characteristics of fourth generation systems with certainty, one can confidently assume that many changes in computing will occur. This paper contains speculation concerning the possible changes. Opinions and suggestions within the paper represent a consensus among the authors but are not representative of the company by which the authors are employed.

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Classification of computers

Classification of computers

Computer can be classified  as follows:

1. According to function
2. According to purpose
3. According to size and capacity

ACCORDING TO FUNCTION:

Computer can be classified into three types. These classifications are according to function and hardware structure.

1. Digital Computers
2. Analog Computers
3. Hybrid Computers

These types are explained below:

• DIGITAL COMPUTERS:

A digital computer represents data in term of discrete number or digit. Thesenumber are used to perform arithmetic calculations and also make logical decisions to reach a conclusion depending on the data, they receive from the user. In general Digital Computers are easy to program and are in general purpose use. The IBM PC and all other personal computers belong to this category.

• ANALOG COMPUTERS:

Analog computer actually is a measuring device. An analog computer measurescontinuous type of data and use a physical quantity, such as electric current, speed, weight etc. Analog computers are the first computers being developed and provide the bases^. for the development of modern digital computers. These computers are mainly made of electronical devices like resisters, amplifiers and transistors. In general Analog computers are very fast in processing and are used for real-time simulation.

• HYBRID COMPUTERS:

The third type of computer is the so called Hybrid Computer. This is a computer which combines the analog and digital capabilities in the same computers system. This capacity is most significant where the digital processing of data collected in analog form is desirable. This is usually found in science laboratories as the controlling device in an industrial process.

ACCORDING TO PURPOSE:

Computers can be classified according to purpose in two ways

GENERAL PURPOSE:-

They are used for different purposes like inventory control, accounting, payroll, record-keeping, word processing, etc.

SPECIAL PURPOSE:-

As the name suggests these computers are used only for specific purposes e.g. acomputer fixed in a bio-medical x-ray instrument would be used only for x-raycontrols.

ACCORDING TO SIZE AND CAPACITY:

Computers can be classified according to configuration, size and capacityin 3 ways.

1. Micro Computers
2. Mini Computers.
3. Mainframe Computers.
4. Super Computer

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Third Generation

Third generation

THE third Generation computers(1966-1975)

The period of third generation was 1965-1971. The computers of third generation used integrated circuits (IC's) in place of transistors. A single IC has many transistors, resistors and capacitors along with the associated circuitry. The IC was invented by Jack Kilby. This development made computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient. In this generation remote processing, time-sharing, multi-programming operating system were used. High-level languages (FORTRAN-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68 etc.) were used during this generation.

The main features of third generation are:

• IC used
• More reliable in comparison to previous two generations
• Smaller size
• Generated less heat
• Faster
• Lesser maintenance
• Still costly
• A.C needed
• Consumed lesser electricity
• Supported high-level language

Some computers of this generation were:

• IBM-360 series
• Honeywell-6000 series
• PDP(Personal Data Processor)
• IBM-370/168
• TDC-316

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Second Generation

second-generation

The term "second-generation" extends the concept of first-generation by one generation. As such, the term exhibits the same type of ambiguity as "first-generation," as well as additional ones.

Like "first-generation immigrant," the term "second-generation" can refer to a member of either:
The second generation of a family to inhabit, but the first natively born in, a country, or
The second generation born in a country

In the United States, among demographers and other social scientists, "second generation" refers to the U.S.-born children of foreign-born parents.

The term second-generation immigrant attracts criticism due to it being an oxymoron. Namely, critics say, a "second-generation immigrant" is not an immigrant, since being "second-generation" means that the person is born in the country and the person's parents are the immigrants in question. Generation labeling immigrants is further complicated by the fact that immigrant generations may not correspond to the genealogical generations of a family. For instance, if a family of two parents and their two adult children immigrate to a new country, members in both generations of this family may be considered "first generation" by the former definition, as both parents and children were foreign-born, adult, immigrants. Likewise, if the two parents had a third child later on, this child would be of a different immigrant generation from that of its siblings. For every generation, the factor of mixed-generation marriages further convolutes the issue, as a person may have immigrants at several different levels of his or her ancestry.

These ambiguities notwithstanding, generation labeling is frequently used in parlance, news articles , and reference articles without deliberate clarification of birthplace ornaturalization. It may or may not be possible to determine, from context, which meaning is intended.

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First Generation

First Generation

The period of first generation was 1946-1959. The computers of first generation used vacuum tubes as the basic components for memory and circuitry for CPU (Central Processing Unit). These tubes, like electric bulbs, produced a lot of heat and were prone to frequent fusing of the installations, therefore, were very expensive and could be afforded only by very large organisations. In this generation mainly batch processing operating system were used. Punched cards, paper tape, and magnetic tape were used as input and output devices. The computers in this generation used machine code as programming language.

The main features of first generation are:

• Vacuum tube technology
• Unreliable
• Supported machine language only
• Very costly
• Generated lot of heat
• Slow input and output devices
• Huge size
• Need of A.C.
• Non-portable
• Consumed lot of electricity

Some computers of this generation were:

• ENIAC
• EDVAC
• UNIVAC
• IBM-701
• IBM-650

The first generation of computers is said by some to have started in 1946 with ENIAC,
the first 'computer' to use electronic valves (ie. vacuum tubes). Others would say it started in May 1949 with the introduction of EDSAC, the first stored program computer. Whichever, the distinguishing feature of the first generation computers was the use of electronic valves.

My personal take on this is that ENIAC was the World's first electronic calculator and that the era of the first generation computers began in 1946 because that was the year when people consciously set out to build stored program computers (many won't agree, and I don't intend to debate it). The first past the post, as it were, was the EDSAC in 1949. The period closed about 1958 with the introduction of transistors and the general adoption of ferrite core memories.

OECD figures indicate that by the end of 1958 about 2,500 first generation computers were installed world-wide. (Compare this with the number of PCs shipped world-wide in just the third quarter of 2006, quoted as 59.1 million units by research company Gartner).

Two key events took place in the summer of 1946 at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. One was the completion of the ENIAC. The other was the delivery of a course of lectures on "The Theory and Techniques of Electronic Digital Computers". In particular, they described the need to store the instructions to manipulate data in the computer along with the data. The design features worked out by John von Neumann and his colleagues and described in these lectures laid the foundation for the development of the first generation of computers. That just left the technical problems!
One of the projects to commence in 1946 was the construction of the IAS computer at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton. The IAS computer used a random access electrostatic storage system and parallel binary arithmetic. It was very fast when compared with the delay line computers, with their sequential memories and serial arithmetic.

The Princeton group was liberal with information about their computer and before long many universities around the world were building their own, close copies. One of these was the SILLIAC at Sydney University in Australia.

I have written an emulator for SILLIAC. You can find it here, along with a link to a copy of the SILLIAC Programming Manual.

First Generation Technologies

1G (or 1-G) refers to the first generation of wireless telephone technology (mobile telecommunications). These are the analog telecommunications standards that were introduced in the 1980s and continued until being replaced by 2G digital telecommunications. The main difference between the two mobile telephone systems (1G and 2G), is that the radio signals used by 1G networks are analog, while 2G networks are digital.

Although both systems use digital signaling to connect the radio towers (which listen to the handsets) to the rest of the telephone system, the voice itself during a call is encoded to digital signals in 2G whereas 1G is only modulated to higher frequency, typically 150 MHz and up. The inherent advantages of digital technology over that of analog meant that 2G networks eventually replaced them almost everywhere.

One such standard is Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), used in Nordic countries, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Eastern Europe and Russia. Others include Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) used in North America and Australia, TACS (Total Access Communications System) in the United Kingdom, C-450 in West Germany, Portugal andSouth Africa, Radiocom 2000 in France, TMA in Spain, and RTMI in Italy. In Japan there were multiple systems. Three standards, TZ-801, TZ-802, and TZ-803 were developed by NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), while a competing system operated by Daini Denden Planning, Inc. (DDI) used the Japan Total Access Communications System (JTACS) standard.

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Computer Generations

   

Computer Generations

The five generations of computers

Even more so the generation who have grown from infancy within the global desktop and laptop revolution since the 1980s.

The history of the computer goes back several decades however and there are five
definable generations of computers.

 Each generation is defined by a significant      technological development that changes    fundamentally how computers operate –  leading to more compact, less expensive, but  more powerful, efficient and robust machines.

1. First Generation
2. Second Generation
3. Third Generation
4. Fourth Generation
5. Fifth Generation

Following are the main five generations of computers 

S.N.	Generation & Description
1	First Generation The period of first generation: 1946-1959. Vacuum tube based.
2	Second Generation The period of second generation: 1959-1965. Transistor based.
3	Third Generation The period of third generation: 1965-1971. Integrated Circuit based.
4	Fourth Generation The period of fourth generation: 1971-1980. VLSI microprocessor based.
5	Fifth Generation The period of fifth generation: 1980-onwards. ULSI microprocessor based

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