Introduction to the JSTL

JSP Standard Tag Library or JSTL for short is very promising technology for the development of jsp based applications. JSTL are the jsp tag libraries released by SUN to ease the JSP programming. The main goal of JSTL is to provide the tags to the page authors, so that they can easily access and manipulate the application data without using the scriptlets. JSP tags are xml like tags, which can be used by non-programmers (page authors or designers) without  knowledge of Java programming.

Benefits of JSTL

There are many reasons you should use JSTL for the development of JSP based web applications. Here are the benefits of using JSTL:

• JSTL are standardized tags
  JSTL are released by SUN and part of JSP specification, so you get the benefits of using the standardized tags. You can get the help and support from the developers around the world.
    
• JSTL Provides most functionality
  JSTL provides most of the functionality necessary for the development of JSP application, so you don't have to develop your own tag. You can use these tags and solve your business problem. It saves lots of development time that you could waste in the developing the common tags.
    
• Support of XML
  JSTL provides support for XML
    
• Expression Language Support
  Expression Language or EL is another exciting functionality provided by JSTL tags.
  
• Easy to Understand
  JSTL are easy to learn and understand. Anyone can learn JSTL fast without knowledge of Java and start developing the JSP based applications.
   
• Developing your own Tags
  JSTL provides mechanism that enables the programmer to develop own tags

In the next section we will learn the history of JSTL.