From: Brian Candler <B.Candler@...>
Date: 2003-06-30T18:51:09+09:00
Subject: Re: why can't I use $3somevar for global variable in ruby 1.8.0?

On Mon, Jun 30, 2003 at 06:35:58PM +0900, Robert Klemme wrote:
> > But $3var doesn't start with a 3; it starts with a $.
> 
> Hmm, you can call me picky, but I'd say it does start with a digit.
> Here's why: I regards the "$" not the first character of the identifier
> but a namespace tag for the global variables namespace.  Similarly there
> is "@" as tag for the namespace "variables of the current instance".

The character definitely _is_ part of the name. For example, try doing
instance_variable_get on :foo instead of :@foo

Regards,

Brian.