Third Generation (1964 - early 1970s): Integrated Circuits

The development of the integrated circuit was the trait of the third generation computers. An 'integrated circuit' (also called an 'IC') consists of a single chip (usually silicon) with many components such as transistors and resistors fabricated on it. Integrated circuits replaced several individually wired transistors. This development made computers smaller in size, reliable and efficient.
Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with operating system. This allowed the device to run many different applications simultaneously with a central program that monitored the memory. For the first time, computers became accessible to mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors. The main advantage of these computers was that manual assembling of individual components was not required, so it reduced the large requirement of labour and cost. However, highly sophisticated technologies were required for the manufacturing of IC chips. Some examples of third generation computers are NCR 395 and B6500.