Regard, CC
tell application "Finder"
--this fails: set vNewestFileName to (item 1 of (sort every file of myFolder by modification date))
--this fails: set vNewestFileName to item 1 of (every item of folder myFolder sort by modification date)
(*this fails: set vFileList to (sort files of myFolder by modification date)
set vNewestFileName to (contents of item 1 of vFileList)*)
(*this fails: set vFileList to every file of folder myFolder sort by modification date
set vNewestFile to item 1 of vFileList as alias*)
(*fails: open myFolder
set view of myFolder to modification date
set vNewestFile to item 1 of myFolder as alias*)
(*fails: set vNumItems to count of items in myFolder
if vNumItems is not 1 then
set vFileList to every file in folder myFolder
else
set vFileList to {every file in myFolder as alias}
end if
set vLatestFile to modification date of item 1 in vFileList
set vNewestFile to file name of item 1 in vFileList
repeat with vItem in vFileList
if modification date of vItem > vLatestFile then
set vLatestFile to modification date of vItem
set vNewestFile to file name of vItem
end if
end repeat*)
end tell