I will agree with that, and even endorse that. However, if you ask a user to maintain/update a script/program that involves references, there is one of three solutions:

1. Things blow up cause the person responsible doesn't have the knowledge
2. You're at fault because you didn't take into account the complexity of the assignment
3. The user now needs to learn about references

I'm taking a very hard-nosed stance about this because there has to be some amount of accountability, somewhere. You can't just say that someone wants to directly modify something using complex features of a language and not have to learn those features. Sorry. It doesn't work that way.

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/me wants to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier!

Vote paco for President!