I think programming is a vague term. If programming just means rigorously encoding an imprecise set of instructions then while not easy I cannot say it is espec

I think programming is a vague term. If programming just means rigorously encoding an imprecise set of instructions then while not easy I cannot say it is especially difficult. But if your programming involves complex mathematics,physics, linguistics, biological, intricate interactions with the world, heck even philosophical concepts then programming is in the cartesian product of the domain and field and is as hard as the toughest problem you are attacking, judged with respect, also to the source field. The true difficulty is in balancing multiple species of abstraction, domain knowledge, device knowledge and encoding instruction in a way that satisfies all of these. So there is the base difficulty of abstracting and then converting mental concepts to a set of computations compounded with the difficulty of getting the abstractions of your domain knowledge to transfer to a set of mental concepts that are transferable to a set of computations. heh. If the field you are dealing with is easy And Or you are continually dealing with the same problem more or less (just different facets) such that you had internalized most of the process to automated subthought (mastery) then yes it will appear easy. Programming then, would only be bounded by its own internal difficulty, which gets easier the more you explore it and learn widely applicable abstractions. Once you mix in the difficulty of the field the same applies till you have reduced the interactions of field+programming to mastered concepts. If the field has a high minimum then this reduction may still always remain extremely difficult. So if one finds programming easy it could also be a sign that you are not challenging yourself enough, not pushing your boundaries sufficiently. My theory is that those of the greatest skill have burning curiosity and will to improve, respond positively to challenge, and have great ability to focus - together this allows them to hold on to and continually attack a problem to a greater depth than most. You need only pick 3, maybe only 2. If there is any inherent genetic advantage held by some - greater ability to focus, efficient use of nutrients, quicker and more enduring synaptic connections, whatever - for the rest of us, I feel the brain is marvellously malleable and can be tuned down another set of dimensions. The space of intelligence is gigantic and non euclidean and likely with no concept of a global maximum. If the person is so determined they will work around their deficiencies and or train their mental processes stronger so that any "lack" of inherent skill does not get in the way of what they wish to do. This is what I believe I do and did. I do be slow as molasses.