[captbaritone]

Interesting. I see what you're saying, and I don't know if I would characterize that as no-op code. All of that code will run. What I see there is redundant assignments, which I agree can act as a great form of code comment.

Often a code comment can be avoided (and clarity improved) by giving a name to an intermediate value rather than letting it be a nameless expression.

I like it! But I don't think of this a no-op code and would not imagine a lint rule objecting to it. That said, a code minifier (or compiler) would be well positioned to optimize that code, so you shouldn't even have to worry about even the thought of perf implications.