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The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer - from the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls - on a single chip.
In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors.
As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUI (Graphic User Interface), the mouse and handheld devices.
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.
Computers are available in different shapes, sizes and weights, due to these different shapes and sizes they perform different sorts of jobs from one another.
The biggest in size, the most expensive in price than any other is classified and known as super computer. It can process trillions of instructions in seconds. Governments specially use this type of computer for their different calculations and heavy jobs. This kind of computer is also helpful for forecasting weather reports worldwide.
Another giant in computers after the super computer is Mainframe, which can also process millions of instruction per second and capable of accessing billions of data. This computer is commonly used in big hospitals, airline reservations companies, and many other huge companies prefer mainframe because of its capability of retrieving data on a huge basis. This is normally too expensive and out of reach from a salary-based person who wants a computer for his home.
This computer offers less than mainframe in work and performance. These are the computers, which are mostly preferred by the small type of business personals, colleges, and so on.
These computers are lesser in cost than the computers given above and also, small in size; They can store a big amount of data and have a memory to meet the assignments of students and other necessary tasks of business people. There are many types of microcomputers: desktop, workstation, laptop, PDA , etc.
In 1957 the German computer scientist Karl Steinbuch coined the word informatik by publishing a paper called Informatik: Automatische Informationsverarbeitung (i.e. "Informatics: automatic information processing"). The French term informatique was coined in 1962 by Philippe Dreyfus together with various translations—informatics (English), informatica (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese), informatika (Russian) referring to the application of computers to store and process information.
The term was coined as a combination of "information" and "automation", to describe the science of automatic information processing.
Informatics is more oriented towards mathematics than computer science.
Computer Science is the study of computers, including both hardware and software design. Computer science is composed of many broad disciplines, for instance, artificial intelligence and software engineering.
Includes all matters concerned with the furtherance of computer science and technology and with the design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications
ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.
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