Page 11 - Handout Digital Electronics

Features of fourth generation computers

• They used Microprocessor (VLSI) as their main switching element.
• They are also called microphones or personal computers.
• Their size varies from desktop to laptop or palmtop.
• They have very high speed of processing; they are 100% accurate, reliable, diligent and
versatile.
• They have very large storage capacity.

Examples of the fourth-generation computers include: IBM PC, Apple-Macintosh and others.

1.6 Fifth Generation (1991- onwards)

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Classifying 5 generation according to technology alone is debatable. Some authors argue that the
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technology is still the same (integrated circuits) and it is only the scaling that has changed.5
generation computers use ULSI (Ultra-Large-Scale Integration) chips. Millions of transistors are placed
in a single IC in ULSI chips. 64-bit microprocessors have been developed during this period. Data flow &
EPIC architecture of these processors have been developed.

Figure 7: Ultra-Large-Scale Integration (ULSI) images

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC), both these
types of designs are used in modern processors. Memory chips and flash memory up to 1 GB, hard
disks up to 600 GB & optical disks up to 50 GB have been developed. Fifth generation digital computers
are Artificial intelligence.

Characteristics of Fifth Generation Computers

Fifth Generation Computers have special characteristics, and the following are some of them:

• Use intelligent programming languages such as List Processor (LISP), Programming Logic
(PROLOG), Python and others
• Use high performance multi-processor system
• Have easy human computer interfaces
• Use knowledge-based problem-solving techniques

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