GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER 1ST GENERATION COMPUTER A first-generation programming language is a machine-level programming language.

Originally, no translator was used to compile or assemble the firstgeneration language. The first-generation programming instructions were entered through the front panel switches of the computer system. The main benefit of programming in a first-generation programming language is that the code a user writes can run very fast and efficiently, since it is directly executed by the CPU. However, machine language is a lot more difficult to learn than higher generational programming languages, and it is far more difficult to edit if errors occur. In addition, if instructions need to be added into memory at some location, then all the instructions after the insertion point need to be moved down to make room in memory to accommodate the new instructions. Doing so on a front panel with switches can be very difficult. Furthermore, portability is significantly reduced - in order to transfer code to a different computer it needs to be completely rewritten since the machine language for one computer could be significantly different from another computer. Architectural considerations make portability difficult too. For example, the number of registers on one CPU architecture could differ from those of another. 2ND GENERATION COMPUTER

Second-generation programming language is a generational way to categorize assembly languages. The term was coined to provide a distinction from higher level third-generation programming languages (3GL) such as COBOL and earlier machine code languages. Second-generation programming languages have the following properties:

The code can be read and written by a programmer. To run on a computer it must be converted into a machine readable form, a process called assembly. The language is specific to a particular processor family and environment.

Second-generation languages are sometimes used in kernels and device drivers (though C is generally employed for this in modern kernels), but more often find use in extremely intensive processing such as games, video editing, graphic manipulation/rendering. 3RD GENERATION COMPUTER A third-generation programming language (3GL) is a refinement of a second-generation programming language. The second generation of programming languages brought logical structure to software. The third generation brought refinements to make the languages more programmerfriendly. This includes features like improved support for aggregate data types, and expressing concepts in a way that favours the programmer, not the computer (e.g. no longer needing to state the length of multi-character (string) literals in Fortran). A third generation language improves over a second generation language by having the computer take care of nonessential details, not the programmer. "High level language" is a synonym for third-generation programming language. First introduced in the late 1950s, Fortran, ALGOL, and COBOL are early examples of this sort of language. Most popular general-purpose languages today, such as C, C++, C#, Java, BASIC and Delphi, are also third-generation languages. Most 3GLs support structured programming.

4TH GENERATION COMPUTER A fourth-generation programming language (1970s-1990) (abbreviated 4GL) is a programming language or programming environment designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as the development of commercial business software.[1] In the history of computer science, the 4GL followed the 3GL in an upward trend toward higher abstraction and statement power. The 4GL was followed by efforts to define and use a 5GL. The natural-language, block-structured mode of the third-generation programming languages improved the process of software development. However, 3GL development methods can be slow and error-prone. It

became clear that some applications could be developed more rapidly by adding a higher-level programming language and methodology which would generate the equivalent of very complicated 3GL instructions with fewer errors. In some senses, software engineering arose to handle 3GL development. 4GL and 5GL projects are more oriented toward problem solving and systems engineering.[citation needed] All 4GLs are designed to reduce programming effort, the time it takes to develop software, and the cost of software development. They are not always successful in this task, sometimes resulting in inelegant and unmaintainable code. However, given the right problem, the use of an appropriate 4GL can be spectacularly successful as was seen with MARKIV and MAPPER. 5TH GENERATION COMPUTER The Fifth Generation Computer Systems project (FGCS) was an initiative by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to create a "fifth generation computer" (see History of computing hardware) which was supposed to perform much calculation using massive parallel processing. It was to be the end result of a massive government/industry research project in Japan during the 1980s. It aimed to create an "epoch-making computer" with supercomputer-like performance and to provide a platform for future developments in artificial intelligence.[1] The term fifth generation was intended to convey the system as being a leap beyond existing machines. Computers using vacuum tubes were called the first generation; transistors and diodes, the second; integrated circuits, the third; and those using microprocessors, the fourth. Whereas previous computer generations had focused on increasing the number of logic elements in a single CPU, the fifth generation, it was widely believed at the time, would instead turn to massive numbers of CPUs for added performance.[2] The project was to create the computer over a ten year period, after which it was considered ended and investment in a new, Sixth Generation project, began.