THIRD GENERATION COMPUTER

The period of third generation was 1964-1972

The third generation of computer is marked by the use of Integrated Circuits (IC's) in place of transistors.A single I.C has many transistors, resistors and capacitors along with the associated circuitry.The I.C was invented by Jack Kilby. This development made computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient.

In this generation Remote processing, Time-sharing, Real-time, Multi-programming Operating System were used

High level language (FORTRAN-II TO IV, COBOL, PASCAL PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68 etc.) were used during this generation.

The main features of Third Generation are:

• Ic used
•   More reliable 
•  Smaller size
•  Generate less heat 
•  Faster
•   Lesser maintenance
•   Still costly
•   A.C needed 
•  Consumed lesser electricity
•   Support high level language

 Some computer of this generation were:

•   IBM-360 series
•   Honeywell-6000 series
•   PDP(Personal Data Processor
•  IBM-370/168
•  TDC-316 

The third generation of computer technology was based on integrated circuit technology and extended from approximately 1964 to 1970. Jack Kilby (1923–) of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce (1927–1990) of Fairchild Semiconductor were the first to develop the idea of the integrated circuit in 1959. The integrated circuit is a single device that contains many transistors\

Arguably the most important machine built during this period was the IBM System/360. Some say that this machine single handedly introduced the third generation. It was not simply a new computer but a new approach to computer design. It introduced a single computer architecture over a range or family of devices. In other words, a program designed to run on one machine in the family could also run on all of the others. IBM spent approximately $5 billion to develop the System/360.

One member of the family, the IBM System/360 Model 50, was able to execute 500,000 additions per second at a price in today's dollars of $4,140,257. This computer was about 263 times as fast as the ENIAC.

During the third generation of computers, the central processor was constructed by using many integrated circuits. It was not until the fourth generation that an entire processor would be placed on a single silicon chip—smaller than a postage stamp