On Dec 14, 2005, at 9:42 PM, Neil Stevens wrote:

> James Edward Gray II wrote:
>> I see a lot of code running the Ruby Quiz and I feel quite confident
>> saying that the Regexp variables are far more common than  
>> MatchData.   I
>> don't think that says anything bad about the latter, but it does   
>> tell
>> me that you are in the minority.  ;)
>
> If the majority here uses globally scoped variables to store locally
> used values,  then that doesn't say anything good for this portion of
> the Ruby community.

I really think you are blowing the issue out of proportion.  A Regexp  
is generally checked in one-line and the variables used in the next.   
It doesn't make a lot of sense to hold on to them for twenty lines  
after you make the check.

Also, I believe they are thread-local variables are they not?  (I'm  
honestly asking.)  If so, I don't see a lot of concern about them  
being stomped on before they are used.

James Edward Gray II