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Public Timelines
FAQ

First generation - The Vacuum Tubes (jan 1, 1940 – jan 1, 1956)

Description:

o The 1st generation computers needed entire rooms for storage and cost huge amounts of money to operate as they used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory. The machines relied on punched cards and paper tape for input and print-outs for output.
o These machines generated plenty of heat, consumed huge amounts of electricity and broke down often making them hard to maintain.
o Relied on the most basic code language known as ‘cryptic binary machine language’

Added to timeline:

Date:

jan 1, 1940
jan 1, 1956
~ 16 years