[Question] Strange way to get reference the Application

[ericntd]

Thanks for sharing this repo archi.

This is unlikely related to the MVVM design pattern but just want to make sure I'm not missing anything important.

Why do you do:
MainViewModel.java

private void loadGithubRepos(String username) {
   // ...
   ArchiApplication application = ArchiApplication.get(context);
   // ...
}

why not simply:
MainViewModel.java

private void loadGithubRepos(String username) {
   // ...
   ArchiApplication application = (ArchiApplication) context.getApplicationContext();
   // ...
}

(I tried it and the app runs just fine)
Is it to prevent memory leak or sth? I can't seem to get my head around it
Sorry for the noob question