>Perhaps I should reiterate my statement as: It doesn't take right-brain visual/artistic skills to be a left-brain programmer. The left brain is good at saying, "This is an address, and it goes in the second field." Application of Rules. This is the mindset which says, "Object chicken derives from class bird which inherits from class animal."
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>It would be the right brain that says, "We are designing a thing with feathers and flight capability. What should it look like? Since this allows the designer complete free will in the decision of how to design the creature, I do not believe the right brain is extremely inclined to Object-oriented programming.
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>It is the left brain that says, "These are the rules ..."

Maybe we're talking about the difference between applying the rules and being creative on one hand, and between following the specs and designing them on the other. The question then becomes "how much of which does it take to be a good OOP programmer"?

I guess it would take good deal of all of it - one needs to be creative within the ramifications set by the rules, and to know what is a sufficient reason to break them :).

So, back to the initial question, the good question to recognize a true OOP programmer, and what would be a good answer to that question, depends on the specs: what sort of programmer are we looking for? A "follow the rules and specs" low-level coder, or an analyst or a system designer, or...