The Java Developers Almanac 1998 presents all the core Java packages and th eir members in an easy-to-consult format. The first part of Chan's book lis ts Java packages alphabetically. Each package is accompanied by a list, als o alphabetical, of its member classes and their purposes. In later sections all the individual classes are listed alphabetically. A typical class's en try includes its inheritance structure and a table of all its properties an d methods. The author concludes with useful commentaries on topical Java is sues (such as operator precedence and the differences between Java 1.1 and Java 1.2) and a cross-reference that reveals relationships between classes.