Cis 205 Week 3 Hardware Essay

Computer Hardware Essay
Chris Cox
CIS205
February 4, 2011
Dr. Tony Lopez

Abstract
The first generation of computers, have led mankind down a road of innovation that continues to evolve and surprise people around the world.   The mainframes of today will be the laptops of the next generation children, and software will continue to push hardware manufacturers to design and invent better devices to run the world’s applications.

Computer Hardware Essay
Computer use is still growing in the United States and in 2010 “more than 80% of Americans now have a computer in their homes, and almost 92% of those have internet access” (www.marketingcharts.com, 2010).   The world is currently in the fifth generation of computers, and this   paper’s subject to discuss is generations of computers, the components related to them, the different classes of computers, and how hardware systems can be applied to support personal and enterprise requirements.
      As we are in the fifth generation of computers, let’s go back to the first generation of computers that occurred between 1945 to 1955 during which time the computers were built with vacuum tubes, were pre-operating system, and could support one user and one task.   Input into the first generation computers was done by punch cards and paper tape. The first computer is was named the ENIAC and was developed to support the United States Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory, (wikipedia, 2008).   “Next the world moved into the second generation of computers that lasted from 1955 to 1965 and the technology went from vacuum tubes to solid state circuits, (e.g. transistors) and the input device was now punch cards.   During this time the IBM 1401 and 7094 were the main computers used.   As the world progressed into the third generation of computers that was from 1965 until 1980 and computers continued to get smaller, faster, more reliable, and cheaper.   These computers were designed with new integrated circuits and moved to a... [continues]

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