The Development History of Digital Electronics Skills The world's first electronic computer was successfully developed in the United States in 1946 and was named ENIAC (Electronic Numerical). In the short forty-plus years since the debut of ENIAC, the development of electronic computers has been extraordinarily rapid. To date, its development has roughly encompassed the following four generations. The first generation (1946~1957) was the electronic computer, with its basic electronic components being vacuum tubes, internal memory adopting mercury delay lines, and external storage primarily utilizing magnetic drums, paper tape, cards, and magnetic tape. The second generation (1958~1970) was the transistor computer. In 1948, the American Bell Labs invented the transistor, which ten years later replaced the vacuum tubes in computers, giving birth to the transistor computer. The third generation (1963~1970) was the integrated circuit computer. With the development of semiconductor technology, in the summer of 1958, the American Texas company created the first semiconductor integrated circuit. The fourth generation (1971~present) is the large-scale integrated circuit computer. With the appearance of large-scale integrated circuits and ultra-large scale integrated circuits that integrate thousands or even tens of thousands of electronic components, the development of electronic computers entered the fourth generation.