What do ListActivity and ListView provide beyond a regular Activity and View?

Question

In Android, what functionality do ListActivity and ListView provide beyond a regular Activity and View?

Answer 1

ListActivity hosts a ListView object that can be bound to different data sources.

In short:

If your Activity will have a ListView check ListActivity. It might help you a little.

Answer 2

A ListActivity provides some convenience methods for using a ListView inside of the Activity. The best example would be that it is very easy to attach a data source (ArrayList or Cursor to a Database) to the ListView and have it be displayed to the user. The ListView can also be made clickable.