Computer Generations

 First Generation

These computers were manufactured using  vacuum tubes. These computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory. These computers were very large and required a lot of space for installation. These were non-portable. As vacuum tubes used filaments, they had a limited life. Because a computer used thousands of vacuum tube, these computers were prone to frequent hardware failure. Hence constant maintenance was required. Since thousands of vacuum tube were used and each vacuum tube consumed half a watt of power, so power consumption of these computers was very high. They generated a large amount of heat. Therefore, air conditioning was essential. They were very expensive to operate. Since machine language was used, these computers were difficult to program and use. Hence commercial production of these computers was limited.