The First Generation

The first generation of computers, beginning around the end of  World War 2, and continuing until around the year 1957, included computers that used vacuum tubes, drum memories, and programming in machine code. Computers at that time where mammoth machines that did not have the power our present day desktop microcomputers.

In 1950, the first real-time, interactive computer was completed by a design team at MIT.  The "Whirlwind Computer," as it was called, was a revamped U.S. Navy project for developing an aircraft simulator.  The Whirlwind used a cathode ray tube and a light gun to provide interactively. The Whirlwind was linked to a series of radars and could identify unfriendly aircraft and direct interceptor fighters to their projected locations.  It was to be the prototype for a network of computers and radar sites (SAGE) acting as an important element of U.S. air defense for a quarter-century after 1958.

In 1951, the first commercially-available computer was delivered to the Bureau of the Census by the Eckert Mauchly Computer Corporation.  The UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was the first computer which was not a one-of-a-kind laboratory instrument.  The UNIVAC became a household word in 1952 when it was used on a televised newscast to project the winner of the Eisenhower-Stevenson presidential race with stunning accuracy.  That same year Maurice V. Wilkes (developer of EDSAC) laid the foundation for the concepts of microprogramming, which was to become the guide for computer design and construction.

In 1954, the first general-purpose computer to be completely transistorized was built at Bell Laboratories.  TRADIC (Transistorized Airborne Digital Computer) held 800 transistors and bettered its predecessors by functioning well aboard airplanes.

In 1956, the first system for storing files to be accessed randomly was completed.  The RAMAC (Random-Access Method for Accounting and Control) 305 could access any of 50 magnetic disks.  It was capable of storing 5 million characters, within a second.  In 1962, the concept was expanded with research in replaceable disk packs.

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