You certainly can, the secret is not to initially think of the physical connector, but to think of the protocol you wish to use, and then think of ways to get that protocol across (ultimately this could be with 'USB-to-xyz' adapters, since you cannot directly wire a USB type A to another USB type A, this is not supported in the USB standard, and the Pi [caveat: only discussing the full-sized Pi models here, not the smaller ones] USB Type B or USB type C [on the Pi 4 as far as I understand] connector is wired for power only, not communications).
However, to step back a bit, using USB is not a normal way of programming a Pi, there are better ways to connect your laptop for programming purposes.
You certainly can, the secret is not to initially think of the physical connector, but to think of the protocol you wish to use, and then think of ways to get that protocol across (ultimately this could be with 'USB-to-xyz' adapters, since you cannot directly wire a USB type A to another USB type A, this is not supported in the USB standard, and the Pi [caveat: only discussing the full-sized Pi models here, not the smaller ones] USB Type B or USB type C [on the Pi 4 as far as I understand] connector is wired for power only, not communications).
However, to step back a bit, using USB is not a normal way of programming a Pi, there are better ways to connect your laptop for programming purposes.
