Difference between specifying JSTL value via attribute and body

Question

I\'m trying to figure out if there\'s any functional difference between these two uses of the JSTL tag. Let\'s assume I have imported some string

Answer 1

According to O'Reillys HeadsFirstServlets pg 457, why would you use the body version of c:set instead of the no-body version. It looks like they do the same thing.

Answer:

That’s because they DO... do the same thing. The body version is just for convenience when you want more room for the value. It might be a long and complex expression, for example, and putting it in the body makes it easier to read.

Update

After some additional research it turns out the above reasoning pertains only to EL v2.2 and lower. See the answer by BalusC for 3.0 behavior.