first-generation computer

first-generation computer

[¦fərst jen·ə¦rā·shən kəm′pyüd·ər]

(computer science)

A computer from the earliest stage of computer development, ending in the early 1960s, characterized by the use of vacuum tubes, the performance of one operation at a time in strictly sequential fashion, and elementary software, usually including a program loader, simple utility routines, and an assembler to assist in program writing.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

first-generation computer

A computer that used vacuum tubes as switching elements; for example, the UNIVAC I. See computer generations.

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