My speciality. Шепелева М.А - 26 стр.

vacuum tube, which requires wires, metal plates, a glass capsule, and a vacuum,
the transistor is a solid-state device, made from silicon. The transistor was invented
at Bell Labs in 1947 and by the 1950s had launched an electronic revolution. It was
not until the late 1950s, however, that fully transistorized computers were
commercially available. IBM again 'was not the first company to deliver the new
technology. NCR and, more successfully, RCA were the front-runners with some
small transistor machines. IBM followed shortly with the 7000 series. The use of
the transistor defines the second generation of computers. It has become widely
accepted to classify computers into generations based on the fundamental hardware
technology employed (Table 2.2). Each new generation is characterized by greater
speed, larger memory capacity, and smaller size than the previous one.

But there are other changes as well. The second generation saw the introduction of
more complex arithmetic and logic units and control units, the use of high-level
programming languages, and the provision of system software with the computer.

The second generation is noteworthy also for the appearance of the Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC). DEC was founded in 1957 and, in that year,
delivered its first computer, the PDP-1. This computer and this company began the
minicomputer phenomenon that would become so prominent in the third
generation.

      The Third Generation: Integrated Circuits

        A single, self-contained transistor is called a discrete component.
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, electronic equipment was composed
largely of discrete components – transistors, resistors, capacitors, and so on.
Discrete components were manufactured separately, packaged in their own
containers, and soldered or wired together onto masonite-like circuit boards, which
were then installed in computers, oscilloscopes, and other electronic equipment.
Whenever an electronic device called for a transistor, a little tube of metal
containing a pinhead-sized piece of silicon had to be soldered to a circuit board.
The entire manufacturing process, from transistor to circuit board, was expensive
and cumbersome.
        These facts of life were beginning to create problems in the computer
industry. Early second-generation computers contained about 10,000 transistors.
This figure grew to the hundreds of thousands, making the manufacture of newer,
more powerful machines increasingly difficult.
        In 1958 came the achievement that revolutionized electronics and started
the era of microelectronics: the invention of the integrated circuit. It is the
integrated circuit that defines the third generation of computers. In this section we
provide a brief introduction to the technology of integrated circuits. Then, we look
at perhaps the two most important members of the third generation, both of which