The subjects for this study, which examined the relationship of cognitive style and ability to the initial acquisition of computer programming competence, were 46 college students enrolled in a computer literacy course. The selected cognitive style (field-independence) and three cognitive abilities (logical reasoning, spatial ability, and direction following) were correlated to five programming component skills: (1) knowledge of BASIC syntax; (2) ability to predict program outcome; (3) ability to design and write programs; (4) ability to debug programs; and (5) ability to modify programs in BASIC. It was found that field-independence, logical reasoning, and direction following were strongly related to most programming skills, while spatial ability was related only to debugging and modification. The text is supplemented by one figure. (26 references) (Author/EW)