Blank line removed after class declaration

This might be done on purpose, but I’m opening this issue to be able to discuss it. Before:

public class JWTFilter extends GenericFilterBean {

    public static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";

    private TokenProvider tokenProvider;

After:

public class JWTFilter extends GenericFilterBean {
    public static final String AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization";

    private TokenProvider tokenProvider;

I think it would be more readable to add/keep the extra line.

In the following example it’s hard to distinguish between the end of the class declaration (and its superclass and interfaces) and the first field:

public class MyLoooooongClass
    extends AbstractAuditingEntity
    implements Serializable, MyInterface<AAAAAAA, BBBBBBBBBBB> {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.SEQUENCE)

Also if the first “content” of the class is an inner class the blank line is added:

 /**
 * some javadoc
 */
public class MyEntityCriteria implements Serializable, Criteria {

    /**
     * Class for filtering MyEntity
     */
    public static class MyEntityFilter extends Filter<MyEntity> {

        public MyEntityFilter() {}

[mmadson]

Are there plans to merge #398 ? This particular issue has me on the fence about adopting prettier for our java project.

[jhaber]

@murdos Do you think we should always add a blank line at the beginning of class bodies and interfaces bodies ?

What about the end of a class? It usually contains a method, so after formatting there is no blank line between the ending } of the method and the ending }of the class.

I don’t think adding a newline between the last method and end of class is a common style so I would advocate for prettier not doing it.

In terms of adding a newline at the beginning of a class, I think there are definitely cases where this improves readability. And in the cases where it doesn’t seem necessary, it doesn’t actively harm readability (it’s just a minor annoyance that people will get used to). So I would be in favor of keeping the behavior simple/predictable and unconditionally adding a newline at the beginning of a class declaration