Second-generation computer - transition to transistors

The second generation of computers was a transition to a transistor element base and marked the emergence of the first mini-computer.

There is further development of the principle of autonomy - its implementation is already carried out by individual devices, which is reflected in their modular structure. I / O devices are equipped with their own controllers, which are called controllers, which made it possible to release the central control unit from manipulating input / output operations.

In the second-generation computer, transistors are replaced by electronic tubes, and the use of magnetic cores and drums as memory devices that are distant ancestors of today's hard drives is being introduced. Due to all these innovations, the size and cost of computers have drastically decreased.

Modernization and reduction of the price for this generation of computers contributed to a decrease in the unit cost of computing resources and computer time in the total cost of an automated solution to the task of processing information. At the same time, the price for application development (programming) did not practically decrease, and at times even increased. Thus, there were tendencies to effective programming, which began to be embodied in a second-generation computer and continue to evolve to the present.

The development of standardized applications of integrated systems based on libraries has been initiated, which have the property of functioning on computers of different brands. The most popular software products are allocated in the RFP in order to solve the tasks of a specific class.

There is an improvement in the technology of execution of software products on a second-generation computer: there are special software tools - system software.

The purpose of developing system software was to simplify and accelerate the switching of the processor between tasks. There were the first batch processing systems that automated the launch of one application after another, increasing the CPU utilization factor . Batch processing systems became the prototype of the current operating systems, they were the first system applications that are designed to manage computing processes.

At the time when batch processing systems were being created, a formalized task management language was developed, with the help of which the developer indicated to the system, as well as the operator, what operation he wanted to perform on the computer. Several tasks in the aggregate in the form of a pack of punched cards began to be called a package of tasks. This element continues to be used at present: the so-called command (package) MS DOS files are task packages (the extension of their name is the abbreviation from the English word "batch" meaning "package"). The following developments are attributed to computers of the second generation of domestic production: Promin, Hrazdan, Minsk, Mir.