I think being a musician and programmer both require practice. As a musician, I would practice a lot of mechanics - producing the desired sound in a specific w

I think being a musician and programmer both require practice. As a musician, I would practice a lot of mechanics - producing the desired sound in a specific way every time. When practicing programming, I personally (and suspect most) would practice certain elements of mental recall. In some cases that would translate into a mechanical memory (vim and tmux key-strokes in particular for me). But I sometimes also force myself to not use IDE shortcuts (or copy-paste) when I am trying to learn a new library or other programming paradigm. For example, I thought learning how to do "Pandas Python" after being fairly proficient in normal Python (and general programming) was hard in making that mental model shift. But I would learn ("practice") by forcing myself to type things that I could have copy-pasted. I think the key is to be aware of what you personally require to become proficient at something. My programming practice methods might not work for everyone, and I know a lot of people who seem to instinctively "get" a new programming process. As you say "I think expert programmers just... produce programs" - this is the best place to be in! You are subconsciously "practicing" but it is wrapped up in your daily life that whatever worked to become an expert has become a habit and is no longer the burden of "practice."