Scenario 1 happens all the time, salesman walks in says demo on Tuesday, oh by the way we need to show the program works with xyz (database, printer, pda, browser, server - take your pick) which of course has never been done before.

Scenario 2, we don't know the assignment, so we can't judge, if the assignment was to write a program that calculates gas mileage, Child A did learn more, if the assignment was bring in a program that will calculate gas mileage, Child B showed great insight into looking for an outside solution.

From the questions posed it is hard to determine who did best. If scenario 1 goal was successful demo, both programmers paid on salary (no overtime), it was a wash, both spent Monday (business time) and the demo worked, thus success. If they are paid hourly and the one programmer got paid overtime, the other didn't, management will like programmer B better, I could probably be happy as either programmer in that situation. What is interesting in this example is if the demo is on Thursday and the assignment made on Monday. So no personal time is impacted.

g_White