"The argument in favor of Programmer B is based on the myth that existing code is somehow superior to your own..."

Well, i don't necessarily disagree with that, but .. "The program is required for a demo Tuesday."

So sure, A will have improved some kind of skill - but there is an equal chance that that that skill will be thrown away with the demo. Besides, how can one say that B doesn't already have that skill and realizes that her/his time would be better spent with the family?

Say that the program is not for a demo - well, any serious application is going to need more than a weekend to just hack together. Shops that don't realize this are doomed to spend endless hours debugging and recoding mistakes that could have been avoided by proper research and design - proper skills that i'll bet that B is familiar with. ;)

But, we have digressed away from the original question, which was basically what is the difference between cheating in school and using existing code on the job. I'd tell you my opinion on this, but i would just be repeating what MeowChow has already excellently said.

Update re: reply:
I only said that because i speak from experience. I have written demo's that were never used and i have not completely forgotten any learned skills - but i didn't waste my time by re-inventing wheels that would end up in /dev/null either. ;) (that that that ... gotta work on my grammar). Oh, and give yourself a year - you will forget more than you credit yourself for remembering. I know i sure ... what's that word?

jeffa

"I drank what?"
--Socrates