Is programming like writing stories. Discuss?

A well constructed story has a sequence of events in which everything happens for a reason and nothing is out of place. Does that remind you of something? I have always been a fan of the short story, especially science fiction. It is a bit like smash and grab. Get in, pitch an idea for a possible future, explore it in some way, round it off with a well thought out ending and that was that. Issac Asimov was brilliant at it. So was Roald Dahl (the kids book guy). He wrote some very well constructed short stories (some of which are a bit racy).

I got to thinking about this when I was writing some stupid story stuff. It is hard. Getting the characters moving around and talking at a mechanical level is actually a bit tricky - at least for me. Perhaps we should get our programming students on creative writing courses (and it might help with the manuals too...)