1-Proposal

Blocks are nice, but there are uses -- especially in Enumerable -- for
which the most common case seems unnecessarily verbose.  What follows
is a proposed alternative convention, and a lightweight implementation
of a small part of that convention.

I'm interested in hearing feedback related to the convention and any
associated / hidden dangers involved.

2-ruby-1.8.5.rb

numbers = [ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 ]
words   = %w(GitHub is Logical Awesome)

# Summary: Everything must be passed via blocks.

numbers.map
  # => [ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 ]

numbers.map { |e| e.abs }
  # => [ 2, 1, 0, 1, 2 ]

numbers.map { |e| e + 2 }
  # => [ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

numbers.select { |e| e >= 0 && e < 2 }
  # => [ 0, 1 ]

numbers.reject { |e| e.zero? }.length
  # => 4

numbers.all? { |e| e > 0 }
  # => false

words.map { |e| e.reverse }
  # => [ 'buHtiG', 'si', 'lacigoL', 'emosewA' ]

words.any? { |e| e.empty? }
  # => false

3-ruby-1.8.7.rb

numbers = [ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 ]
words   = %w(GitHub is Logical Awesome)

# Summary: Methods of arity zero can be simplified by using
# Symbol#to_proc.  Blocks for everything else.

numbers.map
  # => [ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 ]

numbers.map(&:abs)
  # => [ 2, 1, 0, 1, 2 ]

numbers.map { |e| e + 2 }
  # => [ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

numbers.select { |e| e >= 0 && e < 2 }
  # => [ 0, 1 ]

numbers.reject(&:zero?).length
  # => 4

numbers.all? { |e| e > 0 }
  # => false

words.map(&:reverse)
  # => [ 'buHtiG', 'si', 'lacigoL', 'emosewA' ]

words.any?(&:empty?)
  # => false

4-proposal.rb

numbers = [ -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 ]
words   = %w(GitHub is Logical Awesome)

# Summary: Simple expressions can be simplified by calling
# methods on a proxy object.  Complex expressions can still
# be written with a block.

numbers.map
  # => <Proxy Object>

numbers.map.abs
  # => [ 2, 1, 0, 1, 2 ]

numbers.map + 2
  # => [ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

numbers.select { |e| e >= 0 && e < 2 }
  # => [ 0, 1 ]
  # Also, (numbers.select >= 0).select < 2

numbers.reject.zero?.length
  # => 4

numbers.all? > 0
  # => false

words.map.reverse
  # => [ 'buHtiG', 'si', 'lacigoL', 'emosewA' ]

words.any?.empty?
  # => false

5-implementation.rb

class Proxy
  instance_methods.each { |m| undef_method m unless m =~ /^__/ }
  
  def initialize(method, obj)
    @method, @obj = method, obj
  end
  
  def method_missing(*args, &blk)
    @obj.send(@method) { |e| e.send(*args, &blk) }
  end
  
  def inspect
    "#{@obj.inspect}.#{@method} { |e| e.??? }"
  end
end

class Array
  alias :verbose_map :map
  
  def map(*args, &b)
    if block_given?
      self.verbose_map(*args, &b)
    else
      Proxy.new(:map, self)
    end
  end
end