Electron tube computer (1946- 1957) The main feature of this stage computer is that electron tube components are the basic devices, and punched cards or paper tapes are mainly used for the input and output of light screen tubes or mercury, which are large in size, large in power consumption, slow in speed, small in storage, poor in reliability, difficult to maintain and expensive. In software, machine language or assembly language is usually used; To write applications, so computers in this era are mainly used for scientific computing.

At this time, the basic circuit of computer is electron tube structure, and the program has changed from manual machine instruction program to symbolic language. The first generation of electronic computer is the beginning of the revolutionary development of computing tools, and its basic technical ideas such as binary system and program storage have laid the foundation of modern electronic computer technology. Represented by von Neumann.

second generation

Transistor computer (1958-1964) In the mid-1950s, the appearance of transistors made a fundamental development in computer production technology. Using electronic tube as the basic device of computer and magnetic core or drum as memory, the overall performance has been greatly improved compared with the first generation computer. At the same time, programming languages have appeared correspondingly, such as Fortran, Cobol, Algo 160 and other advanced computer languages. Transistor computers are used for scientific calculation, data processing and process control.

The first generation of computers before 1950s used electronic tubes as components. The electronic tube components generate too much heat when working, which have poor reliability, slow running speed, high price and huge volume, all of which restrict the development of computers. Therefore, transistors began to be used as components of computers. Transistor can not only realize the function of electron tube, but also has the advantages of small volume, light weight, long life, high efficiency, less heat generation and low power consumption. After the transistor is used, the structure of electronic circuit has been greatly improved, and it is easier to manufacture high-speed electronic computers.

third generation

Small and medium-sized integrated circuit computers (1965-1971) In the mid-1960s, with the development of semiconductor technology, integrated circuits were successfully manufactured. Small and medium-sized integrated circuits have become the main components of computers, and the main memory is gradually transferred to semiconductor memory, which makes the computer smaller, greatly reducing the power consumption during computer calculation, and further improving the reliability of the computer because of the reduction of solder joints and connectors. In terms of software, with the standardized programming language and the basic language of man-machine dialogue, its application field is further expanded.

The fourth generation

Large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuit computers (197 1-20 15) With the successful production of large-scale integrated circuits and their application in computer hardware production, the size of computers has been further reduced and their performance has been further improved. Integrating semiconductor memory with larger capacity as memory, parallel technology and multi-computer system have been developed, RISC has appeared, software system has been engineered and theorized, and programming has been automated. The application scope of microcomputer in society has been further expanded, and computers can be seen in almost every field.

Fifth generation

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The fifth generation computer refers to a new generation computer with artificial intelligence, which has the functions of reasoning, association, judgment, decision-making and learning. When will the development of computers enter the fifth generation? What is the fifth generation computer? There has been a clear and unified statement on such a problem.

IBM issued a statement saying that it has developed a microchip that can simulate human brain neurons, synaptic functions and other brain functions, thus completing computing functions, which is another major progress in the field of simulating human brain chips. IBM said that this microchip is good at completing complex tasks such as pattern recognition and object classification, and its power consumption is much lower than that of traditional hardware.

It is worth noting that it does not want to replace the original computer chip with a new chip. IBM introduced on its website that the traditional computer pays attention to language and analytical thinking, while the synaptic core can solve the problems of perception and shape recognition, like the left brain and the right brain of human beings respectively; What IBM will do next is to connect the "left brain" and the "right brain" to form a new "holistic computing intelligence". From this point of view, the traditional chip is good at a large number of symbolic operations and digital processing, while the advantage of synapse core is multi-sensing and real-time sensor data processing. For example, Modha once said that the team is developing a headset that can help the blind perceive the external environment; This time, IBM said that after experimental tests, this chip can detect people, cars, trucks and buses in video clips and identify them. This is actually done by the synaptic core.

But one thing is certain, in today's intelligent society, computer, network and communication technology will be trinity. Computers in the new century will liberate people from repetitive and boring information processing, thus changing our work, life and study methods and expanding the living and development space for human beings and society. When the wheel of history enters 2 1 century, we will face all kinds of future computers.