Computer generations – tracing Moore's law
Computer ScienceComputers & HardwareAges 13–14
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Computers & Hardware
Four computer generations sit on one 1945–2025 timeline with a representative machine for each: ENIAC, the IBM 1401, the IBM System/360 and today's personal computer. Students pick a comparison metric (calculation speed, number of switching components, mass, power consumption) and the chart redraws on a logarithmic scale because the values differ by billions of times. Drag the year and doubling-period sliders to see Moore's law predict the number of transistors on a chip, then compare it against real processors from the Intel 4004 to the Apple M1.
Lesson: History of computing: computer generations and their impact on society
What it shows
Each computer generation is defined by its switching component: vacuum tubes, transistors, integrated circuits and then microprocessors. Every change made machines faster, smaller and far less power-hungry, and the values span so many orders of magnitude that only a logarithmic scale shows them together. Moore's law describes the microprocessor era: the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every two years. The model starts from the Intel 4004's 2,300 transistors in 1971 and compares the prediction with real chips up to the Apple M1.
How to use
Click through the four generations to compare their main component and representative machine. Change the Comparison metric and toggle Use logarithmic scale off and on to show why a linear axis hides the early machines. Then move Year predicted by Moore's law and Transistor-doubling period, and ask students which doubling period best matches the real processors plotted on the chart.
Parameters you can change
- Generation shown Generation 1 – vacuum tubes, Generation 2 – transistors, Generation 3 – integrated circuits, Generation 4 – microprocessors
- Comparison metric Speed (calculations/second), Number of switching components, Mass (kg), Power consumption (W)
- Year predicted by Moore's law 1971–2025 year
- Transistor-doubling period 1–4 years
- Use logarithmic scale
Questions to explore
- What was the main switching component of each generation, and how did it change machine size?
- Why does the chart need a logarithmic scale to compare the four generations?
- Does a 1-year or a 2-year doubling period predict the Apple M1's transistor count better?
