$data array becomes variables

Am I understanding correctly?  I have seen controllers creating an array called $data with all the data needed by a view to do its job.  When the view is loaded, the elements of the array have been converted into variables.  For example, in a controller, I see:

PHP Code:

$data['product_code']='pc'; 


After a view is loaded, there is no array named $data, but there is a variable named $product_code, set to the same value as $data['product_code'].  

Is this something done by CodeIgniter?