Thanks, I check for the formatting, it seems fine. I am unable to locate this error. 
Unexpected ")". Perhaps there is a missing ";" or ",".
To give some context, the script I am working on is a legacy script written in previous JMP version 14/15 maybe. This works for the purpose it's designed. Now, I am re-purposing it. 
I wasn't aware of using Name(), you suggest I should just use column-name directly, perhaps like
Names Default To Here(1);
col_name_list = {};
dt = New Table("table",
	New Column("duration", Numeric, Continuous, Values([1]))
);
If(!Contains(col_name_list, "EFT (h)"),
	Current Data Table() << New Column("EFT (h)",
		Numeric,
		Continuous,
		Format("Fixed Dec", 10, 1),
		Formula(:duration * 24)
	)
);
or duration * 24. 
 
Very new to this. Would it be easier to repurpose this whole bunch of code in python? Would then I still have to define all the column parameters like - type, formats, modeling type? Thanks