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I have to say for the record that I disagree. I think writing and programming are completely different disciplines bot of which require practice to perfect. Being rubbish at one doesn't automatically make you rubbish at the other...

I feel this is like comparing riding a bicycle and riding a unicycle

I think riding a unicycle and a bicycle have more in common than bloid suggests in his reply. Writing and programming depend on a similar understanding of language structure and the patterned relations of syntax. Writing well in a communicative language (English, for instance) requires an effective knowledge of that language's rules, and programming has exactly the same requirement. Anybody may be able to "write" or "program" to some degree; even a simpleton can jot down his grocery list or maybe write a simple script. However, a person who can do one really well (not half-assedly) should have the requisite skills, ability to adaptively learn, and - as importantly - the attention to detail to be able to do the other well, too.

True familiarity and skill with a communicative language should allow a writer to successfully pick up the ability to program (provided the writer is at least a little computer savvy) because the writer has a real understanding of how the "parts" of language need to work together (more than just the words, grammar, etc. - I'm talking here about those discrete things and the abstract relationships between them).

Good luck riding a unicycle without being able to ride a bike...

But does one require the other? Don't people learn to ride bikes as children as a form of freedom and "coming of age"?

I guess my example was a bad one ;)

I agree with bloid... consider the Quake invsqrt() function. The code is absolutely brilliant, but yet we don't even know who wrote it, because the programmer wasn't a writer whatsoever, and didn't even bother to document it. If the programmer had also been a writer, they probably would have written a whole article on why they wrote the function the way they did.

For some background:
http://www.dzone.com/links/my_two_cents_on_the_quake_3_fast_invsqrt_function.html
http://www.dzone.com/links/origin_of_quake3s_fast_invsqrt.html

I consider myself a very good writer and a piss-poor programmer, if that helps any.

If I was a great programmer (I'm not), I would probably write or state...

"I hungry. I eat. If no pizza then lomein else leftover chicken. I'm full."

Good logic, but not very good grammar.