Computing Hardware
The History
Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee is an English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He made the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer protocol client and a server via the internet. Berners-Lee is the director of the world wide web consortium which watches the web's continued development.
The 4 Generations of Computers
1st Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
2nd Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and brought in the second generation of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see lots of use in computers until the late 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first generation.
3rd Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers.
4th Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand.