Third

Generation
1964-1975
OUTLINE:
Introduction to Third Generation of
Computers
List of the new inventions:
1. ICs (integrated circuit)
2. CDC 6600
3. CPL (Combined programming
4. Minicomputer
5. Cache and Virtual memories
6. High level languages
7. others
Introduction to Third
Generation
Mid-1960s to Mid-1970s
Operating systems designers developed the
concept of multiprogramming in which several
jobs are in main memory at once; a processor is
switched from job to job as needed to keep
several jobs advancing while keeping the
peripheral devices in use.
SPOOL/ING ( Simultaneous Peripheral
Operations On Line)
List of Inventions
1.ICs (Integrated Circuit)
- which incorporated many transistor
and electronic circuits on a single wafer or
chip of silicon. Invented by Jack St. Clair
Kirby and Robert
Noyce in1958

integrated circuits promised to cut the cost of computer
production significantly because ICs could duplicate the
functions of transistors at a tiny fraction of a transistors
cost.
The earliest ICs, using a technology now called small-
scale integration (SSI), could pack up to 10 to 20
transistors on a chip.
By the late 1960s, engineers had achieved medium-
scale integration (MSI), which placed between 20 and
200 transistors
on a chip.
In the early 1970s, large-scale integration (LSI) was
achieved, In which a single chip could hold up to 5,000
transistors.
2. CDC 6600

In 1964, Seymour Cray developed the CDC 6600,
which was the first architecture to use functional
parallelism. By using 10 separate functional units that
could operate simultaneously and 32 independent
memory banks, the CDC 6600 was able to attain a
computation rate of one million floating point
operations per second (Mflops).
Five years later CDC released the 7600, also
developed by Seymour Cray. The CDC 7600, with its
pipelined functional units, is considered to be the first
vector processor and was capable of executing at ten
Mflops. The IBM 360/91, released during the same
period, was roughly twice as fast as the CDC 6600.
3. CPL (Combined Programming
Language, 1963)
Cambridge University and the University of
London cooperated in the development of
CPL (Combined Programming Language,
1963)
CPL was, according to its authors, an
attempt to capture only the important
features of the complicated and
sophisticated ALGOL (Algorithmic
Language)
Martin Richards of Cambridge developed a
subset of CPL called BCPL (Basic
Computer Programming Language, 1967).
In 1970 Ken Thompson of Bell Labs
developed yet another simplification of CPL
called simply B, in connection with an early
implementation of the UNIX operating
system
4. Minicomputer
The first of these was Digital Electronic
Corporation (DEC), which launched the
minicomputer industry. (A minicomputer is smaller
than a mainframe and is designed to meet the
computing needs of a small- to mid-sized
organization or a department within a larger
organization.)
DECs pioneering minicomputers used
integrated circuits to cut down costs. Capable
of fitting in the corner of a room, the PDP-8 (a
1965 model) did not require the attention of a
full-time computer operator
In addition, users could access the computer
from different locations in the same building
by means of timesharing. This
minicomputers price tag was about one-
fourth the cost of a traditional mainframe. For
the first time, medium sized companies (as
well as smaller colleges and universities)
could afford computers.
DECs first commercially-available
minicomputer, the PDP-8,
did not require the attention of
a full-time computer operator

5. Cache and virtual memories were
introduced (Cache memory makes the
main memory appear faster than it really
is. Virtual memory makes it appear larger)

6. High level languages were standardized
by ANSI eg. ANSI FORTRAN, ANSI
COBOL etc

7. Database management, multi-user
application, online systems like closed loop
process control, airline reservation,
interactive query systems, automatic
industrial control etc emerged during this
period.

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Smaller in size as compared to previous
generations.
More reliable.
Used less energy
Produced less heat as compared to the
previous two generations of computers.
Better speed and could calculate data in
nanoseconds.
ADVANTAGES
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Used fan for heat discharge to prevent
damage.
Maintenance cost was low because hardware
failure is rare.
Totally general purpose
Could be used for high-level languages.
Good storage
Versatile to an extent
Less expensive
Better accuracy
Commercial production increased.
Used mouse and keyboard for input.
DISADVANTAGES
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Air conditioning was required.
Highly sophisticated technology required for
the manufacturing of IC chips.

MINI QUIZ
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What is the name of this
device?
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What is the name of this
Device?
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Who invented this
minicomputer?
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What is the meaning of
SPOOL?
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On what years did the 3
rd

generation of computers start
& end?
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