Programming may be necessary to understanding
Even if Searle's right that programs by themselves aren't sufficient to produce intentionality, they still might contribute to the causal powers that underlie intentionality.
Imagine a case in which two brains have evolved one to speak Chinese and one to speak English. Scientists would explain their linguistic differences in terms of underlying neurological differences. But this probably wouldn't be the whole story; we would expect some of their linguistic differences to result from programming as well.
Richard Double, 1983