The main difference between JavaCC Version 0.8pre1 and Version 0.7.1 is the movement away from JDK 1.0.2 and to JDK 1.1. Hence, the new parser generates inner classes where appropriate and also uses Reader's instead of InputStream's.
You can continue to use JavaCC exactly as before. The constructors and method calls that you use with InputStream parameters continue to work, except that the parameters are wrapped within InputStreamReader's and passed on. New constructors that accept Reader's have been provided.
Apart from this, there is no feature change over Version 0.7.1. Version 0.8pre2 which is being released shortly will contain capabilities to split grammars across different files.
If you see any remnants of JDK 1.0.2 artifacts in JavaCC 0.8pre1, please let us know.