From: Daniel DeLorme <dan-ml@...42.com>
Date: 2008-09-29T20:41:38+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby1.9 block scope

James Coglan wrote:
>> I could have sworn that one of the firm changes in ruby 1.9 was that
>> variables defined inside a block would also exist outside the block
> 
> 
> No, it's the reverse. Take this:
> 
> x = 5
> 1.upto(10) { |i| x = i }
> puts x
> 
> ruby1.8 prints "10", ruby1.9 should print "5".

Actually you are confusing things a litte. In this case ruby1.9 prints 
"10". Only the block *parameters* are local to the block:
   >> i = "a"
   => "a"
   >> 2.times{ |i| puts i }
   0
   1
   => 2
   >> puts i
   a

Which is nice, but not nearly as nice as having the variables assigned 
inside the block available outside of it. These slides are quite old but 
this was the original plan:
http://www.rubyist.net/~matz/slides/rc2003/mgp00012.html

And I seem to remember I experienced that behavior in 1.9 a few months 
ago only. But not any more :-(

--
Daniel