JSP EL

A primary feature of JSP technology version 2.0 is its support for an expression language (EL). An expression language makes it possible to easily access application data stored in JavaBeans components. For example, the JSP expression language allows a page author to access a bean using simple syntax such as ${name} for a simple variable or ${name.foo.bar} for a nested property. 

for more information, check out this EL tutorial:

 http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/1.4/tutorial/doc/JSPIntro7.html