[Javascript] external scripts

[Mike Dougherty]

I have a client-side browser app composed of about 20 external scripts totalling about 90k

I viewed this site over dial-up and realized there has to be some optimization to make the site 
more palatable for dial-up (and consequently improve performance on broadband too)

I'm guessing a single monolithic script file would be retrieved and cached by the browser more 
efficiently than 20 separate files - is this a correct assumption?

I also have inline comments in the script- these are useful for whatever developer go back to the 
source for upgrades, but serve only to bulk up the download for the customer.  

Since I'm going to collect these 20+ separate scripts into a single download anyway, I plan to 
remove the comments too.  Can someone provide me with the regexp to remove everything between /* 
and */?  (the / needs to be escaped, and isn't the * a wildcard?  i really don't "get" regexp like 
i want to)

What is the 'best practice' for maintaining readible source code for developer use and 
pseudo-compiled script for browser consumption?