What are fragments and what are their advantages compared to using multiple activities?

A fragment is a part of the user interface that exists within an activity and has its own lifecycle and set of events. Multiple fragments can be combined within a single activity, and a single fragment can be used in multiple activities.

Advantages over using multiple activities:

• Modularity and reusability: Fragments allow breaking down the UI into reusable components, simplifying development, testing, and maintenance. The same fragment can be used in different activities for similar functionality.
• Flexible UI for different screen sizes: Fragments enable creating a more flexible and responsive UI that can adapt to various screen sizes and orientations. For example, on a phone, fragments may be displayed sequentially, while on a tablet, they can be shown side by side.
• Transaction management: Fragments have a transaction mechanism that allows adding, removing, replacing, and animating fragments dynamically at runtime.
• Simplified interaction: Fragments simplify interaction between UI components within a single activity.
• Shared resources: Fragments within the same activity can share common resources and data stored in the parent activity.