Mike Steiner wrote:
> Why does Ruby frown upon putting spaces between a function name and the
> left parenthesis of its argument lists?

Because parentheses are optional around function parameters and can also be 
used for precedence. Ruby uses the space before the parenthesis to tell 
whether they are used for the former or the latter. Example:

fun 1+3*5 == fun(1+3*5)
fun (1+3)*5 == fun((1+3)*5) != fun(1+3) * 5

HTH
-- 
Ist so, weil ist so
Bleibt so, weil war so