I think a good rule of thumb is that a good GPA will help get you noticed, but from that point it falls to how well you know your stuff (and sheesh, some companies will really grill you -- though technical interviews can actually be kind of fun in a strange sort of way)

I do have a guy in my programming class who is majoring in CS, has a GPA(according to him) 3.86 and know almost NOTHING about programming. In fact, all his programming assignments were made by me and im a 3.5 GPA...

Then STOP DOING HIS HOMEWORK FOR HIM!

Seriously -- when you help someone through school like that it only serves to do two things -- one: it adds one more competitor to the (probably local) job market that you will have to contend with, and two: it devalues the reputation of your school -- what's en employer to think of you and your 3.5 GPA when a guy from your school with a 3.86 GPA just came in and bombed the interview?

That said -- what is your definition of "about programming" ? as the famous saying goes -- "computer science is as much about computers as astronomy is about telescopes." Computers and telescopes are simply tools -- its the "big thoughts" that are really only of any concern as far as the pursuit of science. It's true that most CS majors will go into applied programming career-wise, but the purpose of a CS degree is to turn out computer scientists, not to turn out programmers.

Its entirely possible that he might have trouble writing code -- me may not be intimately familiar with certain languages, or as well-versed in idioms, patterns or best-practices as you, but he might still well know the science better.

How well do *you* know the science of it all? Just because someone produces more/faster/better code does not necessarily make one a better computer scientist (though there tends to be a strong correlation) -- what makes one a better computer scientist is being able to solve harder problems using a solid scientific foundation.

I find it highly unlikely that someone with a high GPA (say 3.7+) would not know a thing about programming.

You'd think, but experience dictates otherwise.