[ESLint] Why are padded blocks not permitted?

I don’t quite understand why the ESLint config file prohibits padded blocks. What would happen if you needed to make a comment after a block opens:

// ESLint Error: "Block must not be padded by blank lines. (padded-blocks)"
$document.ready(() => {

  // Initialize/Render React
  React.render(React.createElement(Index), $react.get(0));
  ...
}

// Violates 17.2 of the style guide: "Put an empty line before the [single-line] comment."
$document.ready(() => {
  // Initialize/Render React
  React.render(React.createElement(Index), $react.get(0));
  ...
}

In addition, I don’t see anywhere in the style guide where padded blocks are prohibited.

[ljharb]

Whitespace is beneficial when it adds readability, but not when it creates visual noise. With syntax highlighting, lines padding blocks add zero benefit, but increase the vertical length of code, and reduce the amount you can see at once.

[dietergeerts]

@ljharb , that’s not true for all cases. In several cases, adding a blank line add a HUGE readability improvement to the code, and it outweighs the fact that the code gets longer by 1 single line. For example in a test file:

import { withJsonDefault } from './with-json-default';

describe('withJsonDefault', () => {

  it(`must use the serializer of the given schema directly,
    as defaults are only meant to be used on deserialization,
    where we have no control over the actual json coming through.`, () => {
    const primitive = _clone(PRIMITIVE);
    sinon.spy(primitive, 'serialize');
    const schema = withJsonDefault('B', primitive);

vs

import { withJsonDefault } from './with-json-default';

describe('withJsonDefault', () => {
  it(`must use the serializer of the given schema directly,
    as defaults are only meant to be used on deserialization,
    where we have no control over the actual json coming through.`, () => {
    const primitive = _clone(PRIMITIVE);
    sinon.spy(primitive, 'serialize');
    const schema = withJsonDefault('B', primitive);

So what’s the real reason for not allowing the first line of a block to be empty? Myself, I never pad a block at the end, but doing it in the beginning give way more readable code in such cases.

If you want to reduce visual noise, then there also should be no spaces inside object declarations as well imho… So I believe that those both rules are conflicting with the reason behind them. Imho, a styleguide should have some general principles, and use them throughout, unless there is a very good reason not to adhere it.