In JavaScript, prior to ES6, standalone code blocks delimited by curly braces do not create a new scope and have no use. For example, these curly braces do nothing to foo:

{
    var foo = bar();
}

In ES6, code blocks may create a new scope if a block-level binding (let and const), a class declaration or a function declaration (in strict mode) are present. A block is not considered redundant in these cases.

Bad Practice

{}

if (foo) {
    bar();
    {
        baz();
    }
}

function bar() {
    {
        baz();
    }
}

{
    function foo() {}
}

{
    aLabel: {
    }
}

Recommended

while (foo) {
    bar();
}

if (foo) {
    if (bar) {
        baz();
    }
}

function bar() {
    baz();
}

{
    let x = 1;
}

{
    const y = 1;
}

{
    class Foo {}
}

aLabel: {}