I started programming when I was 12. I'm 24 now and based upon where I went for school and where I have worked I'm pretty good at it.
I took Latin and Spanish in high school and was terrible at both of them. They were my lowest grades, and I hated them. My memorization skills are generally my weakest point.
So based on a sample size of one I think that programming stresses a different skill set. Programming anything that isn't simple stresses abstract thinking capability above all else. You alluded to this by mentioning good code vs diverse languages.
Good working memory pretty quickly stops being the largest factor as the problem size scales out. Instead organizational skills and the ability to abstract layers of complexity becomes the most important factor in programming ability.
I have noticed that I rely more on language references and code completion than some of the other good developers I know. Supposedly Spanish is derived from Latin, and I have seen many examples, but I found my experiences in one rarely translated well to the other where as my experiences in one programming language almost always translate well to other languages.
I took Latin and Spanish in high school and was terrible at both of them. They were my lowest grades, and I hated them. My memorization skills are generally my weakest point.
So based on a sample size of one I think that programming stresses a different skill set. Programming anything that isn't simple stresses abstract thinking capability above all else. You alluded to this by mentioning good code vs diverse languages.
Good working memory pretty quickly stops being the largest factor as the problem size scales out. Instead organizational skills and the ability to abstract layers of complexity becomes the most important factor in programming ability.
I have noticed that I rely more on language references and code completion than some of the other good developers I know. Supposedly Spanish is derived from Latin, and I have seen many examples, but I found my experiences in one rarely translated well to the other where as my experiences in one programming language almost always translate well to other languages.