The document discusses the JSTL (JSP Standard Tag Library) which represents a set of tags to simplify JSP development. It provides advantages like fast development and code reusability. The core JSTL tags provide variable support and flow control. Common tags are outlined along with their purposes. Function, formatting, XML and SQL tags are also introduced and example uses are shown for SQL tags like <sql:setDataSource> and <sql:query> to connect to a database and execute queries.