public static <T extends Comparable<T>> T getMaximum(Iterable<T> values) {
        
        T max = null;

        for (T value : values) {
            if (max == null || max.compareTo(value) < 0) {
                max = value;
            }
        }
        return max;
    }

Sometimes we want to iterate in reverse order over a list in Java – without (re)sorting the list. Code example:

    for (T item : backwards(list)) {
        // do something
    }

Here is a backwards() method that does this for you (maybe put this code into a util class and use a static import):

    public static <T> Iterable<T> backwards(final List<T> list) {
        return new Iterable<T>() {
            @Override
            public Iterator<T> iterator() {
                return backwardsIterator(list);
            }
        };
    }

    private static <T> Iterator<T> backwardsIterator(List<T> list) {
        final ListIterator<T> iter = list.listIterator(list.size());
        return new Iterator<T>() {
            @Override
            public boolean hasNext() {
                return iter.hasPrevious();
            }

            @Override
            public T next() {
                return iter.previous();
            }

            @Override
            public void remove() {
                iter.remove();
            }
        };
    }