Dror, > Good article. I also went back and read the first part where you were > talking about the JSTL expression language. > > How would development with the expression language compare to using a > template engine like Velocity in your opinion? It seems that there's a > lot of overlapping functionality.
In my opinion, JSP and Velocity are two technologies with the exact same semantics (templates that mix static content with "code" to generate dynamic content); they just use different syntax for the "code" part. With JSTL and the EL, the syntax difference is minimized, but it still exist. For instance, JSP/JSTL uses XML-element syntax for things like loops and ifs, while Velocity includes features like this in their own language. The JSTL EL only lets you access data and do simple operations, such as compare values, add values, etc. The main argument against JSP from the Velocity camp has always been that since JSP allows you to include raw Java code in the template, "it sucks" (their words, not mine). Another argument has been that it is too hard to use JSP the "right way" since writing custom tags is too hard, which I can agree with to some extent. I think JSTL and the EL is a great improvement, since it minimizes the need for both custom tags and raw Java code. JSP 2.0 will introduce an easier way to write custom tags (using a special JSP file or as a Java class as today, but with a much simpler API). The EL defined for JSP 2.0 also adds support for function calls in an EL expression, and a function is much easier to write than a custom tag (it's just a static method, declared in the TLD). These two things will make it even is easier to use JSP the "right way". Hans -- Hans Bergsten [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gefion Software http://www.gefionsoftware.com JavaServer Pages http://TheJSPBook.com =========================================================================== To unsubscribe: mailto [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body: "signoff JSP-INTEREST". For digest: mailto [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body: "set JSP-INTEREST DIGEST". Some relevant FAQs on JSP/Servlets can be found at: http://archives.java.sun.com/jsp-interest.html http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/faq.html http://www.esperanto.org.nz/jsp/jspfaq.jsp http://www.jguru.com/faq/index.jsp http://www.jspinsider.com
