I'm torn when it comes to that. The readability of $(document).ready() is better. Especially for later devs who may not be familiar with jQuery.

For devs not familiar with jQuery (and on the off-chance that you'll need no-conflicts mode at some point), you might even avoid the dollar sign.

jQuery(document).ready(function(){});

On the other hand, if a dev is that unfamiliar with jQuery code, they shouldn't maintaining jQuery code.

Using $(function(){}); serves as a nice warning to this effect.

That is an awful argument. Can you imagine what software would look like if people took that approach with everything? Development would have ground to a halt decades ago.

I think the point is that they should learn enough jQuery before maintaining jQuery code.

Or even better:

  jQuery(document).ready(function($){});

You can also use the module pattern[1] to isolate code from tampering or conflicts:

  (function($, window, undefined) {
    $(document).ready({
      // etc.
    });
  }(jQuery, window);

[1] http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2007/06/12/module-pattern/

Even further off-topic, I really like the succinctness of the former in CoffeeScript:

  $(function () {
      $('#index').append($('article p:first-child'));
  });

becomes:

  $ -> $('#index').append $('article p:first-child')

Not exactly noob-friendly, but very concise.

This is my preferred pattern:

jQuery(function($){

});

It would avoid noConflict type problems.