openGL and JOGL

Why Vertex Arrays

Drawbacks with the traditional method:

 gl.glBegin( ..);
   gl.glVertex3f( .. );
   gl.glVertex3f( .. );
   gl.glVertex3f( .. );
   .
   .
  } gl.glEnd();

Requires many function calls to render geometric primitives.
Redundant processing of vertices that are shared between adjacent polygons.

Solution:
Vertex array routines that allow you to specify and access a lot of vertex-related data with few function calls.
Also, using vertex arrays and index arrays may allow non-redundant processing of shared vertices.