(I posted this before on the google-group rather than the usenet
group, but it seems not to have shown up. I don't know why. If this is
a duplicate for anyone, my apologies)

def initialize(foo,bar,bat)
  @foo,@bar,@bat = foo,bar,bat
end

Seems clumsy and not at all DRY.

What would seem the obvious approach to me would be this:

def initialize(@foo,@bar,@bat)
end

Is there a reason it's not done that way?