Fourth Generation

Fourth Generation Computers:

•Fourth-generation programming language, or 4GL, is a class of non-procedural, high-level specification programming language or environment. Unlike general-purpose, third-generation languages like C, C++, and Java, fourth-generation languages are designed with a specific purpose in mind. 4GLs attempt to help quickly develop programming that effectively generates highly complicated 3GL instructions

Advantages

1. Smallest in size because of high component density.
2. Very reliable.
3. Heat generated is negligible.
4. No air conditioning required in most cases.
5. Much faster in computation than previous generations.
6. Hardware failure is negligible and hence minimal maintenance is required.
7. Easily portable because of their small size.
8. Totally general purpose.
9. Minimal labour and cost involved at assembly stage.
10. Cheapest among all generations.

Disadvantage

1. Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacture of LSI chips.
2. The downside of a 4GL is that the programs run slower than those of  earlier language generations because their machine code equivalent is considerably longer and more complicated to execute
3. The recent popularity of 4GLs is  closely linked to the development of fast microprocessors

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