Editing Incubator escapee wiki:WikiProject Computing/Early computers task force/Generations

I use the following mental model of the "generations" of early electronic computers (the mechanical ones are a whole hierarchy unto themselves):

* ''Zeroth'': Electronic computing devices which were not true stored-program computers - [[Colossus computer]] (misnamed article), [[ENIAC]]
* ''First'': One-off tube computers: [[Pilot ACE]], [[Manchester Mark 1]], [[EDSAC]], [[SEAC (computer)|SEAC]], [[EDVAC]], [[IAS computer|IAS]], [[Whirlwind (computer)|Whirlwind]], etc
* ''Second'': Early production tube machines: [[Ferranti Mark 1]], [[DEUCE]], [[UNIVAC I]], [[ERA 1101]], [[IBM 701]], [[IBM 650]], [[IBM 702]]
* ''Third'': Mature production tube machines: [[IBM 704]], [[IBM 705]], [[AN/FSQ-7]]
* ''Fourth'': Experimental transistor machines: [[TX-0]]
* ''Fifth'': Early production transistor computers: [[PDP-1]], [[IBM 7090]]
* ''Sixth'': Mature transistorized machines: [[PDP-6]], [[KA-10]]
* ''Seventh'': Experimental IC machines: [[MU-5]]
* ''Eighth'': Early production IC computers: [[PDP-8]], [[PDP-11/20]]

Anything after that can't possibly be called an "early" computer!

'''Note:''' Machines are listed for ''illustrative'' purposes only - this list is not by ''any'' means intended to be a comprehensive list of all the machines of any particular generation.

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*Note that these categories of early computers conflict with what are generally called the computer generations: 1 = tubes, 2 = transistors, 3 = integrated circuits, 4 = microchips.  I think they should be called something different to avoid confusion.  Something such as zeroth=1A, first=1B, second=1C, third=1D, fourth=2A, etc.
--[[User:Bubba73|Bubba73]] 18:53, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
Also, the [[Harvard Mark I]] and [[IBM SSEC]] sould probably be included as your "zeroth", changing the ones following, making the first all-electronic ones the "first".   [[User:Bubba73|Bubba73]] July 6, 2005 15:11 (UTC)
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I'd suggest that the Colossus computer article is not mis-named, because the Colossi were definitely digital (partly) electronic computing machines.  They were also programmable to a limited extent.  What they were not was either general purpose or Turing-complete.

As with the original version of ENIAC, Colossus was not software programmable.

[[Special:Contributions/86.141.196.130|86.141.196.130]] ([[User talk:86.141.196.130|talk]]) 23:10, 5 January 2014 (UTC)