New to processing, but familiar with "scripting".

I'm used to something like this working just fine:
Code:

//  A
float firstVar = 1.0;
float secondVar = 2.0;
float thirdVar = 3.0;
float[] myArray;			 // changing this line...  
//float[] myArray = new float[3];  // ...to this doesn't make a difference.
if(true){
  myArray = {firstVar, secondVar, thirdVar};
}
//
 

But it does not. I get an "unexpected token" when defining 'myArray' inside the if.  The next two examples however, DO work, but 'B' seems really clunky, and why 'C' works and 'A' doesn't confuses me:
Code:

//  B
float firstVar = 1.0;
float secondVar = 2.0;
float thirdVar = 3.0;
float[] myArray = new float[3];
if(true){
  myArray[0] = firstVar;
  myArray[1] = secondVar;
  myArray[2] = thirdVar;
}
//

//  C
float firstVar = 1.0;
float secondVar = 2.0;
float thirdVar = 3.0;
float[] myArray = {firstVar, secondVar, thirdVar};
//
 

So it seems like the scope of the if isn't allowing me to update myArray in one go...?  Is there a cleaner way to do this?  Many thanks.

Sho'nuff, that worked, many thanks.  But that brings up another question.. again, stemming from my noobiness of the language:
I would think that declaring 'myArray' as a 'new float[]' inside of a loop... that would 'separate' it from it's parental variable scope, and make it local to the loop.  But that's obviously not happening.  What's the reasoning behind that?  Again, thanks.

Ok, I'll buy that.  FYI, in your example, and in one's I've tried to recreate:  The duplicate local variable tosses an error to the effect:
Code:

"Duplicate declaration of local variable "myArray".  The other occurrence is at location...." 

I presume duplicate named local variables are allowed.  Was there just a simple mistake in the example?  This is starting to tangent from my orig post, but it really helps.

Thanks for the help and clarity.