Benedict, I agree that programming might require deep work from time to time. But I would disagree on the reasons why people can or cannot learn to program.

IMO, there are three components to the programming:

1. Imagining and understanding how the resulting system would work.
2. Ability to think from different perspectives — user, machine, parts of the program.
3. Ability to convey your thoughts in clear and straightforward manner in a foreign language. (Programming language).

If you have those skills/abilities then programming will be easy for you. If you don’t — even if you are very strong at “deep work”, you would struggle (I’ve seen people like that).