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A '''control card''' was a specific type of [[Punch_card#IBM_punch_card_format|punched card]] used to store processing instructions. |
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Some of the earliest large-scale computers used stacks of punched cards for storing data to be processed. These cards acted as memory for the machine. |
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In addition to data, however, all computers require a place and method for storing processing instructions. On a punch card system created for a ''specific'' use, the processing instruction set was integrated with the machine, ie. ''hard-wired''. On a ''general'' use punch card system, however, the machine's [[resident monitor]] read processing instructions from special cards called control cards, which acted as controlling elements of the data processing operation. |
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==Artificial intelligence implications== |
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Control cards were part of the ''brain'' of a punch card computer. When computers gained the ability to use control cards, they acquired a necessary tool for being programmed. Many fiction and non-fiction authors have speculated that after control cards became available, the difference between human brains and computers became only a matter of data volume and processing speed. |
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[[Category:Artificial intelligence]] |
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[[Category:Computer science]] |
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[[Category:Technical communication]] |
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[[Category:History of computing]] |