Loading images from a remote URL

We just learned how to extract data from an API response. That data often includes URLs to images we want to present to the user. There is quite a bit of work involved in achieving that. First, you must fetch the image as a binary stream from the URL. Then, you need to transform that binary stream into an image (it could be a GIF, JPEG, or one of a few other image formats).

Then, you need to convert it into a bitmap instance, potentially resizing it to use less memory. You may also want to apply other transformations to it at that point. Then, you need to set it to ImageView.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Well, luckily for us, there are a few libraries that do all of that (and more) for us. The most commonly used libraries are Square’s Picasso (see https://square.github.io/picasso/) and Glide by Bump Technologies (see https://github.com/bumptech/glide). Facebook’s Fresco (see https://frescolib.org/) is somewhat less...