Generation 2 (1956 to 1963)
The second generation of computers began when transistors replaced vacuum tubes as the main electrical component in computers. It ocurred between the 1950s and 1960s. Transistors were invented in 1947 and were vastly superior to vacuum tubes.
They made computers smaller, faster, cheaper, and more efficient. The language evolved from machine language to assembly language which used words to represent the numbers of machine language.
The first programming languages of COBOL and FORTRAN were also created during this generation. Transistor computers were the first to store info into memory. The IBM 1401, which was one of the most successful 2nd gen computers typically contained between 1KB and 16KB of memory.
