The script won't have a limited life - I expect it to be used for a long while yet. It's just that it will go through a "tuning" phase before settling down. I appreciate what you are saying about doing it right first time but I think there is a need to get the balance right between the code that performs the script functions and the code that performs the script housekeeping and control. (Clumsily worded but I hope you see what I'm getting at) For most of the stuff that I write I would agree with you entirely - an ounce of prevention... etc. (I can't remember the whole saying) and I sometimes go a bit over the top "don't ever assume anything is correct or anything ever worked" - it's just the borderline cases where I worry about the ratios.