Java Utililty Methods XML NodeList to Element List

ArrayList<Element> nodes = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < list.getLength(); i++) {
    Node node = list.item(i);
    if (node instanceof Element)
        nodes.add((Element) node);
return nodes;

List<Element> list = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nds.getLength(); i++) {
    Node child = nds.item(i);
    if (child.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
        list.add((Element) child);
return list;
...

List<Element> list = new ArrayList<Element>(nodeList != null ? nodeList.getLength() : 0);
if (nodeList == null)
    return list;
int n = nodeList.getLength();
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    Node item = nodeList.item(i);
    if (item instanceof Element)
        list.add((Element) item);
...

List<Element> elements = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nodeList.getLength(); i++) {
    Node node = nodeList.item(i);
    if (node instanceof Element) {
        elements.add((Element) node);
return elements;
...

if (nl.getLength() == 0) {
    return EMPTY_ELEMENTS;
List<Element> al = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nl.getLength(); i++) {
    Node n = nl.item(i);
    if (n instanceof Element) {
        al.add((Element) n);
...

List<Element> list = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++)
    if (nodes.item(i) instanceof Element)
        list.add((Element) nodes.item(i));
return list;

List<Element> list = new ArrayList<Element>();
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++)
    if (nodes.item(i) instanceof Element) {
        Element e = (Element) nodes.item(i);
        if (filter == null || e.getTagName().equals(filter)) {
            list.add(e);
return list;