What is the Adapter in Android?

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An adapter is used to create a child view to present the parent view items.

In Android, an adapter is a bridge between the UI component (such as ListView, GridView, Spinner, etc.) and the data source that fills the UI component with data. It acts as a mediator that connects the data source with the UI component, allowing the data to be displayed in a format suitable for the UI.

There are different types of adapters in Android, such as:

  1. ArrayAdapter: This adapter is used when the data source is an array or a List.
  2. BaseAdapter: A more flexible adapter that provides a base implementation for other custom adapters.
  3. CursorAdapter: Specifically designed for working with data from a database cursor.
  4. RecyclerView.Adapter: Introduced in the later versions of Android, this is used with the RecyclerView widget and provides better performance and flexibility compared to the older ListView and GridView.

Adapters help in separating the concerns of data management and presentation, making it easier to update and maintain the UI components independently of the underlying data source. They play a crucial role in the implementation of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern in Android applications.