[ ] vs .

[Nicholas Carrier]

This is probably really simple, but I'm reading Head First: Servlet's and JSP and I understand how this works.

${person.dog.name}

Where there is an attribute of type person that has a property that is an object of type Dog that has a property that is a string which holds his name. In that case it's going to print out the person's dog's name.

What confuses me, and it's really just a side question, is how to do that with [].

This obviously doesn't work because it goes from inner most expression outwards.

${person[dog["name"]}

And prints out nothing because there is no property in the person object that has the same name as say Clifford.

Thanks for you help ahead of time. If I figure it out before anyone replies I'll post my own answer.

[Bear Bibeault]

${person.dog.name}
 
${person.dog['name']}
 
${person['dog']['name']}    
 
${person['dog'].name}
 

are all equivalent.