/**
   * Returns the empty immutable list. This list behaves and performs comparably to {@link
   * Collections#emptyList}, and is preferable mainly for consistency and maintainability of your
   * code.
   *
   * <p><b>Performance note:</b> the instance returned is a singleton.
   */
  // Casting to any type is safe because the list will never hold any elements.
  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  public static <E> ImmutableList<E> of() {