I don't believe coding is pretty much decided from the start. There is of course the gifted programmer, who rarely has any problems. The one that doesn't seem to understand anything, and the one struggles at first, but eventually becomes better because they don't actually understand what's going on at first. I personally think using a language like java cripples the programmer with all its features. I started out in C++, passed the first course of programming with a C, then struggled with the second semester and got a D. I retook, and still only ended up with a B, then took a advanced course of C++ and got a A. I actually enjoyed learning new things, even though they were pretty difficult. However, when I transferred, and the school that I go to now teaches java, everything seems oversimplified, and they don't like to go into technical details, but like to talk in abstract terms. I believe the test you described was kind of off-topic. Someone can easily read that statement from right to left and get the opposite answer ( it's not impossible to make a language's assignment operator in the opposite direction). In general I would have to say that a programmer's ability is partially decided by their initial state, but it's not impossible to become a good programmer though experience.