ImmutableList<Cell<R, C, V>> cellList,
      ImmutableSet<R> rowSpace,
      ImmutableSet<C> columnSpace) {
    // use a dense table if more than half of the cells have values
    // TODO(gak): tune this condition based on empirical evidence
    return (cellList.size() > (((long) rowSpace.size() * columnSpace.size()) / 2))
        ? new DenseImmutableTable<R, C, V>(cellList, rowSpace, columnSpace)