fourth-generation computer

fourth-generation computer

[′fȯrth ‚jen·ə¦rā·shən kəm′pyüd·ər] (computer science) A type of general-purpose digital computer used in the 1970s and 1980s that is characterized by increasingly advanced very large-scale integrated circuits and increasing use of a hierarchy of memory devices.

fourth-generation computer

A computer made up almost entirely of chips with limited amounts of discrete components. We are currently nearing the end of the fourth generation. See computer generations.