Page 18 - DLIS108_INFORMATION_AND_COMMUNICATION_TECHNOLOGY_APPLICATIONS

VED1
e\L-lovely-eng\comm2-1.pmd IInd 16-9-11 IIIrd 27-12-11 IVth 4-1-12

Unit 2: Generation of Computers

assembled manually. Manual assembly of components was very expensive and later many attempts
were made to reduce such manual assembly. It was in 1964, when it was discovered that a number Notes
of transistors could be sealed up into a tiny package, called an Integrated Circuit (IC) or a Chip.

1. IBM 701, IBM’s first electronic large computer.
2. PDP-1, developed by DEC was the first minicomputer as shown in Figure 2.6.

Figure 2.6: PDP-1

3. IBM 650, The magnetic drum calculator was the first mass-produced computer.
Various historical events occurred during 1954–1964 are described in Table 2.3.

Table 2.3: History of Computers During the Year 1954–1964

Year Invention
1953 IBM 701, IBM’s first electronic large computer that could perform
17,000 instructions per second.
1954 Beginning of commercial production of silicon transistor by Texas
instrument.
1956 The first transistorised computer. TX-O (Transistorized
Experimental computer).
1958 First integrated circuit built by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments.
1960 First automatic mass-production facility for transistors, developed
by IBM.
1962 Patent on the mouse-pointing device for computers, received by
Douglas Engelbart.
1964 The BASIC programming language developed by John Kemeny
and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College.

2.1.5 Third Generation Computers (1964–1980)

Second generation computers became out-dated after the invention of ICs. The third generation of
computers (1964–978) was marked by use of Integrated Circuits (ICs) in place of transistors. As
hundreds of transistors could be put on a single small circuit, so ICs were more compact than
transistors. An integrated circuit is a microelectronic semiconductor device consisting of many
interconnected transistors and other components. ICs are constructed on a small rectangle cut from
a Silicon wafer.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 13