1st GENERATION COMPUTER (1945 -1955)

          The development of electronic computers had clearly helped to visualize the concept of computer. The computer system has teken a big leap forward with each technological breakthrough during the development process. The functions performed by the computers and speed of their operations have been changing. There have been a great variation in size and cost of the computers.

Technological breakthrough in hardware and software resulted into more and more advanced computer system belonging to one particular technological class (or trend) is said to belong to a particular computer generation.

FIRST GENERATION COMPUTER ( 1945 - 1955)

          First generation computer used vacuum tubes as memory devices. The computers were large size and very costly and used the assembly language for programming.

• Colossus  was  the first  electronic  computer  of  this  era.  It's  every  aspect  was  kept secret by British Government.
• In 1945,  Von  Neumann  Architecture was introduced. Eckert and Mauchley began working  on  EDVAC  (Electronic  Discrete Variable Automatic  Computer)  but  it  never completed. Later Von Neumann developed his own EDVAC (IAS machine).
• In 1946, the development of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), which was started in 1943, was completed.
• Some other  computers of this generation are  UNIVAC,  MARK  II,  MARK  III,  Z2, Z4, SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic calculator) and some IBM computers series such as IBM 604, IBM 650, IBM 701, IBM 702.
• In 1954, first version of FORTRAN (Formula Translator) was published by IBM.