Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.util.Collections; import java.util.Iterator; public class Main { /** * Given an iterable A whose elements are iterables, this method will return the first * element of A. * If no such element exist, an empty iterable is returned rather than null. * * * @param iterable * @param <S> * @param <T> * @return */ public static <S, T extends Iterable<S>> Iterable<S> safeGetFirst(Iterable<T> iterable) { Iterator<T> it = iterable.iterator(); return it.hasNext() ? it.next() : Collections.<S>emptySet(); } }