memory and the Transistor - Circuit Element. These technical discoveries quickly found their way into new models of digital computers. RAM capacities increased from 8,000 to 64,000 words in commercially available machines by the 1960’s, with access times of 2 to 3 MS (Milliseconds). These machines were very expensive to purchase or even to rent and were particularly expensive to operate because of the cost of expanding programming. Such computers were mostly found in large computer centers operated by industry, government, and private laboratories -- staffed with many programmers and support personnel. This situation led to modes of operation enabling the sharing of the high potential available. During this time, another important development was the move from machine language to assembly language, also known as symbolic languages. Assembly languages use abbreviations for instructions rather than numbers. This made programming a computer a lot easier. After the implementation of assembly languages came high-level languages. The first language to be universally accepted was a language by the name of FORTRAN, developed in the mid 50’s as an engineering, mathematical, and scientific language. Then, in 1959, COBOL was developed for business programming usage. Both languages, still being used today, are more English like than assembly. Higher level languages allow programmers to give more attention to solving problems rather than coping with the minute details of the machines themselves. Disk storage complimented magnetic tape systems and enabled users to have rapid access to data required. All these new developments made the second generation computers easier and less costly to operate. This began a surge of growth in computer systems, although computers were being mostly use...
