NC was the predecessor of CNC.
Many of the early NC machines used just a single line instruction entered and executed by the operator.
The first NC machine I operated had a 10 key pad and a row of function keys, and an LED numerical display. Pressing the keys "Line X 5 Y 1 FR 10 Enter" would move 5 units +X, 1 Unit +Y at 10 Units/min. The cutting spindle already had to be on and the Z axis was set manually. Once the move was done, you had to enter the next move. There was no "program" storage.