The second generation saw several important developments at all levels of computer system design, from the technology used to build the basic circuits to the programming languages used to write scientific applications.
Electronic switches in this era were based on discrete diode and transistor technology with a switching time of approximately 0.3 microseconds. The first machines were built with this technology at Bell- and Lincoln Laboratories. Memory technology was based on magnetic cores which could be accessed in random order as opposed to the previous devices.
During this second generation many high level programming languages were introduced, including FORTRAN (1956), ALGOL (1958), and COBOL (1959). Important commercial machines of this era include the IBM 704 and its successors, the 709 and 70094.
The second generation also saw the first supercomputers designed specifically for numeric processing in scientific application. The term «supercomputer» is generally reserved for a machine that is an order of magnitude more powerful than other machines of this era.