Scenario one:

Two programmers are set a task to construct a program to do X. Its 4pm Friday evening. The program is required for a demo Tuesday.

Programmer A, grabs the manuals, reads the spec, constructs a psuedo-code version. Takes the manuals home, and pours over them. Spend his weekend testing individual constructs, refining his design. returns to work on Monday morning with a clear plan of action. Sits at his workstation and starts coding...

Programmer B goes out Friday evening. Spends his weekend with his wife and kids. Returns Monday morning with nothing but his thoughts. Sits down at his workstation, hits Google a searches for something that fits the spec. Finds something close, downloads the source. Opens the source, tidies up the layout. Adjusts a few comments. removes some bits that are redundant, adds a few bits that are missing. Refines a few bits that don't work the way he thinks they should....

By Monday evening, both have a working program that satisfies the spec.

Who did the better job?

Scenario 2.

Two school children are set a task of doing X. Last lesson of the day on Friday afternoon. Assignment to be completed by Tuesday AM.

Child A Takes home his notes and the studies hard. By Tuesday morning he has his assignment completed. The program does what is required. Maybe clunky in places, and he couldn't quite get the output to match that specified, but its almost there.

Child B. Has a great weekend with his mates and his family. Logs on to the internet Sunday evening. Does a Google and finds PerlMonks.com. Asks his question, gets a reply... tries the code. Almost what he needs. Chops a few bits out...adjust the output to suit...screws up the code he was given a bit and asks another question and gets that sorted out. By Tuesday morning, he also has a program that works and fits the teachers requirements. (One of which was: Use no modules!)

Who did the better job?

Did you think Programmer B showed initiative but that Child B cheated?