But what professors say is true in at least one sense. Every one of the couple of dozen cheaters I have caught over the years would have failed the course, even if I hadn't caught them. Think about it. Writing correct programs that are maintainable is hard, and you will need to use every trick you can learn to be good at it. More important, it teaches some underlying principles that will allow you to continue learning in the future.
Programming is a knowledge activity.
In doing it you acquire, arrange and manipulate information from a variety of sources. Examples include news readers, mailers, browsers, database managers, compilers, interface builders, window systems, documentation, and so on. To be a good programmer you must be able to use a variety of tools, and you must learn new tools constantly. About a third of the lecture time is spent discussing tools. All your practice time is spent using them.