gistfile1.rb

# Is there a better way to perform the below?

var = begin
  if herp
    'derp'
  elsif qux
    'baz'
  else
    'foo'
  end
end

# I dislike the following variant as it is a small DRY violation
# and can have unexpected scoping issues if you forget to preset
# var to nil.

var = nil
if herp
  var = 'derp'
elsif qux
  var = 'baz'
else
  var = 'foo'
end

# There's also:

var = 'foo'
var = 'derp' if herp
var = 'baz' if qux

# but I find it non-obvious.

scoping rules have changed in 1.9

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

case rand(10)
  when 0 then somevar = 1 
  when 1 then somevar = 2 
end

p 'what scoping issues, champ ?', somevar

No need for the begin

var = if herp
'derp'
elsif qux
'baz'
else
'foo'
end

@fuelxc: Ah! I didn't know that. Cheers.

@deepfryed: Most of my for $$ work is REE 1.8.7. Most other things are gems and so I want to keep them working under MRI 1.8.7. Good to know they've changed that, though.