First Generation of Computer Information

First Generation of Computer Information – The early computer and others of their time were manufacturing using vacuum tubes as an electronic switching device. A vacuum tube was a fragile glass device using filaments as a source of electronic and could control and amplify electronic signals. it was the only high-speed electronic switching device available in those days. These vacuum tube computer could perform computations in milliseconds and be known as the first-generation computer.

First Generation of Computer Information

Most of the first-generation computer worked on the principle of storing program instructions along with data in the memory of the computer (stored program concept) so that they could automatically execute a program without human intervention. A memory of these computers used electromagnetic relays, and users fed all data instructions into the system using punched cards. Programmers wrote instructions in the machine and assembly language are difficult to work with, only a few specialists understood how to program these early computers.

Que: The first generation of computer was based on which technology?

Ans: The first generation of computers was based on vacuum tube technology.

Characteristics of First-generation computer are as follow:

1. They were the fastest calculating device of their time
2. They were too bulky in size, Requiring large room for installation.
3. Each vacuum tube consumed about half a watt of power. since a computer typically used more than ten thousand vacuum tubes, the power consumption of these computers was very high.
4. They used thousands of vacuum tubes that emitted a large amount of heat and burnt out frequently. Hence the rooms/areas in which these computers were located had to be properly air-conditioned.
5. As vacuum tubes used filaments, they had a limited life. Because of a computer used thousands of vacuum tubes, these computers were prone to frequent hardware failures.
6. Due to the low mean time between failures, these computers required constant maintenance.
7. In these computers, thousands of individual components were assembled manually by hand into electronic circuits. Hence, commercial production of these computers was difficult and costly.
8. since these computers were difficult to program and use, they had limited commercial use.

Also Read:-

• Second Generation of Computer
• Third Generation oF Computer