From: Matt Armstrong <matt@...>
Date: 2001-07-10T11:01:13+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:17582] Re: Constants and Variables

Albert Wagner <alwagner@tcac.net> writes:

> On Monday 09 July 2001 11:40, you wrote:
> <snip>
>>   One of the other things I miss dearly is a way to create a new
>> block-local variable. I have been bitten by
>>
>> 	foo = 42
>> 	bar.each { |foo| foo.doSomething(); }
>> 	...foo is no longer 42
>>
>>   which would have been avoided by defining the second foo as block
>> local -- by the way, it is a formal parameter for the block, why
>> does it even think about touching the foo from outside the block?
>> This looks so wrong to me.
>
> Me too.  But for some reason I have yet to fathom, no one else here
> agrees.

I think most people agree that it is certainly a FAQ and something
people starting out with Ruby hit their heads against.  The subject
comes up frequently on this list, and most of the arguments have been
hashed over many times before.  This is probably why the regular
posters tend to ignore the threads now.  :-)

Last I remember, Matz was considering alternative syntax that would
create a block local variable.