Optional implementation pillaged from Java 8 for when you don't have Java 8 APIs available. Optionally (ha!), you could take a look at Guava's Optional (http://docs.guava-libraries.googlecode.com/git/javadoc/com/google/common/base/Optional.html)

Optional.java

/**
 * In the absence of Java 8, here is our Optional duplicated code.  Other than the package name,
 * this should be a subset of this API, http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Optional.html
 */
public final class Optional<T> {
    public static <T> Optional<T> of(T value) {
        if (value == null) {
            return Optional.empty();
        }

        return new Optional<T>(value);
    }

    public static <T> Optional<T> empty() {
        return new Optional<T>(null);
    }

    private final T value;

    private Optional(T value) {
        this.value = value;
    }

    public boolean isPresent() {
        return value != null;
    }

    public T get() {
        return value;
    }
}