I guess i am missing something obvious here, but surely the uri attribute of the <%@ taglib %> directive can be anything you like, regardless of whether there is a taglib element in the DD??
I thought that the Container would search in an expected location (e.g. under /WEB-INF) for .tld files, then examine these for a <uri> element that matches the uri attribute in said <%@ taglib %> directive.
But the book answer p.827 states that in the absence of a <taglib> element in the DD, the URI must be a full path relative to the application root.
Now if the .tld doesnt contain a matching <uri>, then maybe the book answer is correct?? I am really confused now guys, hope someone can clear my muddle...