[Phanx]

Originally Posted by Malsomnus This is why I can't quite figure out the general statement "define variables in the lowest scope possible"

Here's an example:

local unit
for i = 1, 4 do
    unit = "party"..i
    print(UnitName(unit), "is a", UnitClass(unit))
end

In this example, the "unit" variable is only used inside the "for" loop, and its value is dependent on the iterator's value, so it should only be defined in that scope, not in a higher scope:

for i = 1, 4 do
    local unit = "party"..i
    print(UnitName(unit), "is a", UnitClass(unit))
end

On a side note, in some cases, the narrowest scope necessary for a variable is no scope at all. I've definitely seen cases of this in addons:

local x = 4
for i = 1, x do
    local unit = "party"..i
    print(UnitName(unit), "is a", UnitClass(unit))
end

In that case, the variable "x" doesn't need to exist at all; you should just use its value directly in the loop construction, as in the previous example.