FIRST GENERATION OF COMPUTERS: HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, SOFTWARE, HARDWARE - HISTORY - 2025

The first generation of computers was the initial phase in which these electronic machines were used, during the period from 1940 to 1956. Computers used vacuum tube technology for both calculation and storage and control purposes.

In early first-generation computers, the concept of vacuum tubes was used. These were made of glass and contained a filament inside. The evolution of the computer started from the 16th century to the way it can be viewed today. However, today's computer has also undergone rapid change over the past fifty years.

ENIAC computer Source: US Army Photo (Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons

This period, during which the evolution of the computer took place, can be divided into several different phases, depending on the type of switching circuits, known as computer generations.

Therefore, computer generations are the different stages in the evolution of electronic circuits, hardware, software, programming languages, and other technological developments.

Initial situation

The first electronic computers were made during the 1940s. Since then, there have been a number of radical advances in electronics.

These computers were so huge that they took up entire rooms. To perform operations they relied on the use of machine language, which was the lowest-level programming language that computers understood, and they could only solve one problem at a time.

The vacuum tube was an electronic component that had a much lower working efficiency. Therefore, it could not function properly without a great cooling system so that it would not be damaged.

The input medium for first-generation computers was based on punch cards, and the output was displayed in prints. It took operators days and even weeks to arrange the wiring to solve a new problem.

Origin and history of the first generation

Atanasoff-Berry computer

The mathematician and physicist John Atanasoff, looking for ways to solve equations automatically, set about clarifying his thoughts in 1937, writing down the basic characteristics of an electronic computing machine.

This machine solved equations, although it could not be programmed. It was produced with the support of Clifford Berry.

Computing goes electronic

World War II acted as a midwife to the birth of the modern electronic computer. Military demands for calculations and also high war budgets stimulated innovation.

The first electronic computers were machines built for specific tasks. Setting them up was cumbersome and time consuming.

The first electronic computer, called ENIAC, was declassified at the end of World War II, prompting inquiries from engineers around the world on how they could build an equal or better one.

The team that worked at ENIAC was the first to recognize the importance of the concept of having the program stored inside the computer.

These early machines were generally controlled by wiring that was connected to the motherboard or by a series of addresses encoded on paper tape.

Thus, although these machines were clearly programmable, their programs were not stored internally in the computer.

John von Neumann

This mathematician wrote a report establishing the conceptual framework for stored-program computers.

He encouraged the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study) not to do only theoretical studies, but that it could be put into practice by making a real computer.

Moore School

This school responded in 1946 with a series of lectures. Attendees learned about ENIAC, general techniques for building computers, and also the new idea of ​​storing programs in memory, which no one had done yet.

One of the assistants, Maurice Wilkes, led the British team that built the EDSAC in Cambridge in 1949.

On the other hand, Richard Snyder led the American team that completed the EDVAC at Moore School.

The stored program computer developed by von Neumann became operational in 1951. The IAS made his design freely available. This spread similar machines around the world.

Characteristics of the first generation of computers

Solve only one problem at a time

First-generation computers were defined by the fact that operating instructions were made specifically to perform the task for which the computer was to be used.

Technology used

These computers used vacuum tubes for CPU circuits and magnetic drums for data storage, as well as electrical switching devices.

A magnetic core memory was used as main memory. The input devices were paper tapes or punched cards.

Processing speed

CPU speeds were extremely low. They had slow, inefficient, and unreliable processing due to low precision. Only simple and direct numerical calculations could be performed.

cost

Computers were very expensive to run. Computers of this generation were very large in size, taking up a space the size of a room.

In addition, they used a large amount of electricity, generating a lot of heat, which often caused them to break down.

Programming language

First-generation computers received instructions in machine language (0 and 1) or through electrical on / off signals. There were no programming languages.

Later, assembly language was developed for use in first-generation computers.

Once the world saw that a computer program was stored internally, the advantages were obvious. Every university, research institute and laboratory wanted one of its own.

However, there were no commercial electronic computer manufacturers with stored programs. If you wanted one, you had to build it.

Many of these early machines were based on published designs. Others developed independently.

software

To program the first electronic computers, instructions were given in a language that they could easily understand. That was machine or binary language.

Any instruction in this language is given in the form of sequences of 1 and 0. The symbol 1 represents the presence of an electrical pulse and the 0 represents the absence of an electrical pulse.

A string of 1's and 0's, such as 11101101, has a specific meaning to the computer, even though it looks like a binary number.

Writing programs in machine language was very cumbersome, so it was only done by experts. All instructions and data were sent to the computer in binary numerical form.

Low level programming

These machines were intended for low-level operations. The systems could only solve one problem at a time. There was no assembly language and no operating system software.

Therefore, the interface with first-generation computers was through patch panels and machine language. Technicians wired electrical circuits by connecting numerous wires to outlets.

Then they were put into specific punched cards and some kind of calculation was waited for hours while also trusting that each of the thousands of vacuum tubes would not be damaged during this process, so as not to have to go through this procedure again.

Computer work was done in batches, so in the 1950s the operating system was called the batch processing system.

Internally stored program

The first computers combined calculations with great speed, but only after a careful process of configuring the programs.

No one knows who came up with the innovative solution of storing instructions that tell you what to do in your computer's memory. It was the birth of software, used since then by all computers.

The Manchester experimental machine was the first computer to run a program from memory.

Fifty-two minutes was the time this computer used to execute a 17-instruction program. Thus, in 1948 the stored-program computer was born.

Hardware

In addition to having thousands of resistors and capacitors, first-generation computers used up to more than 18,000 vacuum tubes, which meant that computing facilities covered entire rooms.

Empty tubes

The main piece of technology for first-generation computers was vacuum tubes. From 1940 to 1956, vacuum tubes were widely used in computers, resulting in the first generation of computers.

These computers used vacuum tubes for signal amplification and switching purposes. The tubes were made of glass receptacles that were sealed, the size of light bulbs.

The sealed glass allowed current to flow wirelessly from the filaments to the metal plates.

The vacuum tube was invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest. This technology was essential during the first half of the 20th century, as it was used to make televisions, radars, X-ray machines, and a wide variety of other electronic devices.

Vacuum tubes started and ended circuits by turning on and off when connected or disconnected.

Means of entry and exit

Entry and exit was done using punch cards, magnetic drums, typewriters, and punch card readers. Initially, technicians manually punched the cards with holes. This was done later using computers.

Electronic typewriters, programmed to write on a paper tape or a punched card reader, were used to print the reports.

Featured computers of this generation

ENIAC

The first general-purpose operating electronic computer, called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), was built between 1943 and 1945. It used 18,000 vacuum tubes and 70,000 resistors.

It was the first large-scale computer to work electronically, without being braked by any mechanical component.

Its weight was 30 tons. It was about 30 meters long and required a large space to install it. She could calculate at the rate of 1,900 sums per second. It was programmed with a wiring that was plugged into the motherboard.

It was 1,000 times faster than previous electromechanical computers, although it was a bit slow when trying to reprogram it.

It was designed and built at the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania by engineers John Mauchly and Presper Eckert.

The ENIAC was used to perform war-related calculations, such as calculations to aid in the construction of the atomic bomb. Also for weather predictions.

EDSAC

This computer was developed in Great Britain. It became the first non-experimental stored program computer in 1949.

It used a memory of mercury delay lines, which provided memory to many first generation computers.

ACE pilot model

This machine was completed by Alan Turing in Great Britain in 1950. Although it was built as a test computer, it was in normal operation for five years.

UNIVAC

The UNIVAC was the first computer for commercial use. Image source: Wikimedia.org

UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was the first computer designed for commercial, non-military use. Issued in 1951 to a commercial customer, the United States Census Bureau, to count the general population.

It could execute ten times more sums per second than the ENIAC. In current dollars, UNIVAC was priced at $ 4,996,000.

It was later used to manage payroll, records, and even to predict the results of the presidential elections in 1952.

Unlike the 18,000 vacuum tubes at ENIAC, UNIVAC I used only just over 5,000 vacuum tubes. It was also half the size of its predecessor, selling almost 50 units.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantage

- The advantage of vacuum tube technology is that it made the manufacture of digital electronic computers possible. Vacuum tubes were the only electronic devices available during those days, which made computing possible.

- These computers were the fastest computing devices of their time. They had the ability to calculate data in milliseconds.

- They could execute complex math problems efficiently.

Disadvantages

- Computers were very large in size. Its weight was about 30 tons. Therefore, they were not portable at all.

- They were based on vacuum tubes, which were quickly damaged. The computer was overheating very quickly due to the thousands of vacuum tubes. Therefore, a large cooling system was needed. Electron-emitting metal burned easily in vacuum tubes.

- They could store a small amount of information. Magnetic drums were used, which provided very little data storage.

-They had limited commercial use, because their commercial production was very expensive.

- Work efficiency was low. The calculations were carried out at a very low speed.

- Punched cards were used for entry.

- They had very limited programming capabilities. Only machine language could be used.

- They required a large amount of power consumption.

- They weren't very reliable. Constant maintenance was required, and they were working very poorly.

References

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