What is the asterisk alone in the parameter list?

Question

I found this in a Module that is supposed to extend some other class:

module Somemodule
  def foo(*)
    do_something_funny
    super
  end
end

I understand def foo(*args) construct. What is the purpose of an asterisk alone?

Answer 1

It's similar to *args but you get no reference to the arguments. They are, however, passed as provided to any super invocation to the parent's constructor (or same-name method), as long as no explicit parameters are specified in the super call.

It is a nice way to convey that you do not intend to process the provided arguments in any way.