From: Ruby Freak <twscannell@...>
Date: 2008-06-26T00:42:58+09:00
Subject: Question on passing blocks

In the code below, a block, { x += 1 } is magically passed to
thrice ?? or something like that.
I don't understand the usage of  the "thrice { iterator }" using {}
and why I can't make a normal block syntax work. The thrice method
doesn't take (normal) parameters, so how does this work?

Ruby, Have you been messing around behind my back?
Thanks in advance.

def thrice
    yield
    yield
    yield
end

x = 5
puts "value of x before: #{x}" #  => 5
thrice { x += 1 }
puts "value of x after: #{x}" #  => 8

# broken from here down

thrice  { |x| x += 1 }

thrice do |x|
  x += 1
end