Prerequisite, yes, but it is not the thing itself. Just because you can spell doesn't mean you can write a novel, or every Spelling Bee winner should become an award winning novelist. The meaning of the words, the structure of the novel, characterizations, etc. all matter as well, and are ultimately much more important than just spelling things correctly.

Defining programming as just syntax is nonsense. The SHOUTED IS (like we're on AOL again for some reason) places outsized emphasis on syntax. Either that it is "just syntax" as randomdata wrote or the majority of programming as the SHOUTED IS could also imply, makes no sense. Just creating a syntactically valid program is insufficient for creating a correct or useful program, just as correctly spelling a string of words is not enough to create a novel.