I realise there are EL and near EL frameworks like StringTemplate, JUEL, Velocity, etc. However, I am not asking for list of alternatives to JSTL/EL.
I came across a package more than a year ago, someone who wrote a util that emulates the functionality of JSP for non-servlet env, i.e., JSP composition which does not need a "servlet container" to function.
I ignored it and now I think it would be helpful to me and I need help to recall what it is.
My actual motivation is similar to what StringTemplate, JUEL, Velocity would offer to help me compose SQL blocks, HTML blocks but I am thinking that JSPs are precompiled into bytecode and JSPs are more run-time efficient since run-time parsing is done no more than once.
So actually, recommendation for alternatives would be acceptable as long as the templates are precompiled into bytecode. But I still prefer the JSP emulator.
A great replacement to jsps is the Freemarker templating engine. It is excellent as a stand-alone, but also, you can see how it is integrated to struts 2 framework. When combined with the OGNL stack, it is a complete replacement to jsps.