Yes, definitely omit parentheses when calling a method without arguments. For calls with some non-block arguments, it's not so clear-cut as "always include par

Yes, definitely omit parentheses when calling a method without arguments. For calls with some non-block arguments, it's not so clear-cut as "always include parentheses". Some methods are so prevalent that they almost become part of the language "syntax", even though there's nothing syntactically special about them. For example, you rarely see parentheses used on calls to `attr_accessor` or `private`: class Cat attr_accessor :fluffiness private def plan_world_domination # TODO end end I think parentheses around `private(def some_method ... end)` would be especially non-idiomatic. Even though passing the result of the `def` expression to the `private` method is exactly what's happening. Another place where it's usual to omit method call parentheses is on embedded DSLs. For example, in RSpec it's uncommon to include parentheses on calls to `describe` or `it`. describe "RSpec DSL" do it "looks neater without parentheses" do # ... end end