Both languages were intended to facilitate ease of transition for IBM tabulating machine (Tab) unit record equipment technicians to the then-new computers. Tab machine technicians were accustomed to plugging wires into control panels to implement input, output, control and counter operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide). Tab machines programs were executed by impulses emitted in a machine cycle; hence, FARGO and RPG emulated the notion of the machine cycle with the program cycle. RPG was superior to and rapidly replaced FARGO as the report generator program of choice.