/***********************************************************************************************************************
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2010 by the Stratosphere project (http://stratosphere.eu)
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
 * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on
 * an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
 * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
 *
 **********************************************************************************************************************/

package eu.stratosphere.pact.runtime.util;

import eu.stratosphere.pact.common.util.MutableObjectIterator;


/**
 * An empty mutable object iterator that never returns anything.
 *
 * @author Stephan Ewen
 */
public final class EmptyMutableObjectIterator<E> implements MutableObjectIterator<E> {

	/**
	 * The singleton instance.
	 */
	private static final EmptyMutableObjectIterator<Object> INSTANCE = new EmptyMutableObjectIterator<Object>();
	
	/**
	 * Gets a singleton instance of the empty iterator.
	 *  
	 * @param <E> The type of the objects (not) returned by the iterator.
	 * @return An instance of the iterator.
	 */
	public static <E> MutableObjectIterator<E> get() {
		@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
		MutableObjectIterator<E> iter = (MutableObjectIterator<E>) INSTANCE;
		return iter;
	}
	
	/**
	 * Always returns null.
	 *  
	 * @see MutableObjectIterator#next(Object)
	 */
	@Override
	public boolean next(E target) {
		return false;
	}
}
