Hardware Technology
First generation computers were manufactured using thousands of vacuum tubes ; a vacuum tube is a device made of fragile glass.
Memory
Electromagnetic relay was used as primary memory and panched cards were used to store data and instructions.
Software Technology
Programming was done in machine or assembly language.
Used for
Scientific applications
Examples
ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701
Highlights
They were the fastest calculating device of those times.
Computers were too bulky and required a complete room for storage.
Highly unreliable as vacuum tubes emitted a large amount of heat and burnt frequently.
Required air-conditioned rooms for installations.
Costly
Difficult to use
Required constant maintenance because vacuum tubes used filaments that had limited life time. Therefore, these computers were prone to frequent hardware failures.