From: Johan Holmberg <holmberg@...>
Date: 2003-12-29T04:01:53+09:00
Subject: Re: Inconsistent value of uninitialized variable

Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@soyabean.com.au> writes:
> [...]
> This, to me, is inconsistent and undesirable behaviour.  I would
> prefer this:
> 
>   x = x     # NameError: undefined local variable or method `x' ...
> 
> I haven't given it much thought, but the existing behaviour cost me 15
> minutes debugging, and I:
>  * don't see a benefit of the existing behaviour;
>  * do see a benefit (consistency) of changing the behaviour.
> 

I had a similar problem a while ago that also took time to debug.
I had code looking something like this:

    x_misspelled = 33
    ...
    x = 100 if x == -1

Because of the rule Matz referred to in his reply to your mail (that
"local variables are defined when they first appear in the left side
of assignment"), this code doesn't give an error. If I had written

    x_misspelled = 33
    ...
    if x == -1
        x = 100
    end

I would have got a NameError saying "undefined local variable
or method...".

I think these two code fragments does the same thing "logically", and
that it would have been nice if the if-modifier-form also had caught
my error.

/Johan Holmberg