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Use of EL in JSP's is the proper way to code logic according to the Sun tutorials and samples, which also recommend against the use of Java scriptlets. Yet searching job listings for EL | "expression language" in the SF bay area on craigslist yields 0 hits (vs 144 for jsp, 8 for jstl and 678 for java. this is searching ad text not the titles) so it doesn't seem to be a skill of interest. Also 0 hits on programmers on the topic and I had to create a new tag ;-)

What's good or bad about EL and why the low interest? As a java technology you would expect a lot more.

Chuck Stephanski
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    Oh please! Would you expect to see job listings that ask for "Java exceptions" as a mandatory requirement? EL is part of JSP. If the prospective employee claims to know JSP, he/she should also know EL. (And if he/she doesn't, this should come out in the job interview.)

    Job listings are NOT a valid measure of the popularity or pervasiveness of EL.

     – Stephen C Mar 28 '11 at 03:23
  • And neither is the number of tag hits in programmers ... or stackoverflow for that matter. In the programmers case, it probably means nobody has thought that EL is an interesting topic to discuss. In the stackoverflow case, it could mean that EL is so straight-forward that nobody needs to ask questions. Or it could mean that a lot of people are "bad" at tagging and just tag EL related questions as JSP. Or both. – Stephen C Mar 28 '11 at 03:27
  • It's amazing the things people get nervy about. – Chuck Stephanski May 27 '11 at 22:17

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I'd say that EL is way to "unimportant" a technique for being included in a job offer. You don't include typing skills either, do you? You don't include "knowledge of java.util.ArrayList" and so on.

Christian Seifert
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Typically we imply knowledge of EL or relevant tag libraries when we list "JSP" as a required/recommended skill. Conversely, just because we list "JSP" doesn't mean we're looking for scriptlet coding, either.

Besides, EL isn't really a difficult thing to understand if you've had any experience with JSP, ASP, PHP, etc.

JohnRegner
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