First Generation Computer Evolution

The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes and were large and expensive to run.

The ENIAC was the first general purpose digital computer. The project was a response to US wartime needs and was developed under the Army�s Ballistics Research Laboratory.

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The machine was enormous, weighing 30 tonnes and occupying 1500 square feet of floor space. It contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes and consumed 140 kilowatts of power. It was a decimal machine and its main drawback was that it had to be programmed manually, by setting switches and plugging and unplugging cables.

The ENIAC was completed in 1946, too late to be used in the war effort. Its first task was to perform a series of complex calculations which were used to determine the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb. This use, for other than its purpose, demonstrated its general purpose nature.

The IAS computer was built by John von Neumann and his colleagues at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies in 1952. The memory of this computer consists of 1000 storage locations for binary information.

The drawbacks of the ENIAC were combatted by implementing a memory module where the programming can be stored. A program may then be altered by changing the values of a portion of memory.

The IAS introduced four main concepts. A main memory module that stores both data and instructions, an arithmetic and logic unit for operating on binary data, a control unit which executes instructions and input and output equipment controlled by the control unit. With rare exeptions, all of today’s computers have the same general function and structure as the IAS and are considered von Neumann machines.