The JSTL is often referred to as a single tag library when in fact it's a collection of four tag libraries. Each tag library provides useful actions (or tags) based on the following functional areas:

  1. Core
  2. Internationalization (I18n) and formatting
  3. Relational database access
  4. XML processing

One of the primary goals of the JSTL is to simplify the lives of JSP page authors. Providing a colleciton of tag libraries reinforces this goal by further separating simple, reusable logic from the page's presentation, thus making the page easier to read and maintain.