> Is there any reason while the Ruby 1.8 behaviour that duplicate variable names are allowed was changed? Because in general allowing duplicate argument names

> Is there any reason while the Ruby 1.8 behaviour that duplicate variable names are allowed was changed? Because in general allowing duplicate argument names is a terrible idea and a rich source of bugs? > This seems a much cleaner way of allowing this construct. I feel the exact opposite. A privileged 'disregard' symbol gives you the power of signalling that you don't care about certain arguments, without the 'shoot-yourself-in-the-foot' side effect of easily accidentally shadowing what you intended to be distinct entities.