Second Generation of Computers (1959 - 1964):
- Characterized by transistors rather than vacuum tubes - Transistors were invented in 1947 but wasn't widespread until the late 1950s - Transistors allowed computers to be faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient, and more reliable than the first generation - Making the computers smaller in weight and in size - They used magnetic tape which increased the computer's read and write operation - It also increased the speed the computers calculated data - Second generation still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output - The computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to assembly languages - This allowed programmers to specify instructions using English-like commands words - High-level programming languages were also being developed - Such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN - First computers to store their instructions in their memory - The first computers of this generation were developed for the industry of atomic energy |