Page 20 - DCAP101_BASIC_COMPUTER_SKILLS

Unit 1: Computer Fundamentals

3. Although fifth-generation mainframes require proper air-conditioning of the rooms/ Notes
areas in which they are located, no air-conditioning is normally required for notebook
computers, desktop PCs, and workstations.
4. They consume less power than their predecessors do.
5. They are more reliable and less prone to hardware failures than their predecessors
were, requiring negligible maintenance cost.
6. Many of the large-scale fifth-generation systems have hot-plug feature that enables a
failed component to be replaced with a new one without the need to shutdown the
system. Hence, the uptime of these systems is very high.
7. They have faster and larger primary and secondary storage as compared to their
predecessors.
8. They are general-purpose machines.
9. Their manufacturing does not require manual assembly of individual components into
electronic circuits resulting in reduced human labour and cost involved at assembly
stage. Hence, commercial production of these systems is easier and cheaper. However,
highly sophisticated technology and expensive setup (affordable only by a few
organizations in the world) is required for manufacturing IJLSI chips.
10. Use of standard high-level programming languages allows programs written for one
computer to be easily ported to and executed on another computer.
11. More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia features make the systems easier to
learn and use by anyone, including children.
12. Newer and more powerful applications, including multimedia applications, make the
systems more useful in every occupation.
13. Explosion in the size of the Internet coupled with Internet-based tools and applications
have made these systems influence the life of even common people.
14. These systems also use the concept of unbundled software and add-on hardware
allowing the users to invest only in the hardware configuration and software of their
need and value.
15. With so many types of computers in all price ranges today, we have a computer for
almost any type of user whether the user is a child or a world-fame scientist.
We have looked at the history of computing divided into five generations and we have seen
how quickly things have changed in the last few decades. Technological progress in this area
is continuing at the same rate even now. In fact, the fastest-growth period in the history of
computing may be still ahead.

An integrated circuit (IC) is a small electronic device made out of a
semiconductor material. The first integrated circuit was developed in the
1950s by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild
Semiconductor.

Describe the main different of first generation computer and third
generation computer.

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