Many other developments characterize the fourth generation, which is still very much in progress. These include microminiaturization, semiconductor internal memory, further improvements in software, decision support systems, and information resource management (IRM).
1. Microminiaturization :
The technological hallmark of the fourth generation is microminiaturization. Over the years, more and more circuits have been packed into less and less space, and integrated circuits have become increasingly smaller, faster, and cheaper.
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The terms large-scale integration (LSI) and later very-large scale integration (VLSI) have been coined to describe this process. Now a single silicon chip smaller than the size of a fingernail can contain over a million circuits elements.
Future systems, experts predict, will contain billions of circuits in the same space, perhaps leading to “ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI.” The end result has been computer systems that are both smaller and more powerful than their predecessors.
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2. Semiconductor Internal Memory :
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Over the course of the third generation, core memory slowly gave way to MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) memory. By the fourth generation, MOS memory, which is faster, smaller, and cheaper than core planes, had become a common fixture.
Semiconductor memories, as MOS devices are usually called, are similar to microprocessors in that the memory is etched onto a small silicon chip. Also like microprocessors, these chips are commonly mounted onto metal carriers, which plug into boards that reside in the computer’s system unit.
3. Further Improvements in Software :
Many people are intimidated by computers and especially by programming languages. Yet computer technology is a powerful tool in the hands of the right users, and many people would be more productive in their jobs if the right computer tools were available.
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In response to such demands, a number of software vendors have developed over the last several years fourth- generation-language (4GL) software products that are specifically targeted to the on-the-job needs of people in virtually every field.
These products, which include database retrieval languages, spreadsheets, modeling packages, application generators, and the like, are much easier to work with than BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG, and other third-generation languages.
4. Decision Support Systems:
The 1970s and 1980s gave rise to a new type of information system- the decision support system (DSS). While the MISs of the 1960s provided managers with information in the form of preplanned, hard-copy reports, the DSSs that later evolved offered managers a set of hardware and software tools.
These tools gave managers the power to interact directly and easily with the computer, and to satisfy their own information needs in the manner they desired.
5. Information Resources Management (IRM) :
The importance of computers and other information-related technologies has skyrocketed in many organizations. Rather than seeing computers as merely a means of mechanically processing transactions, such organizations perceive information technology as a strategic force that will largely determine their survival in the 1990s.
For instance, firms such as banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies sell products and services that depend critically on how information is collected, packaged, and disseminated.
Today even the major airlines make more money from their computerized reservations systems than they do from selling seats on their own planes. The growing philosophy that information is a critical asset that must be properly planned for and managed rather than just a necessary cost to be controlled is known as information resources management (IRM).