Location of classes is facilitated by caching information about classes in a class path. The cache is reconstructed when changes to the original information in the class path are detected. Selected elements in a class path can also be cached. These elements are selected as those which have associated mechanisms to provide notification of changes. Element selection criteria can be modified such that only class path elements that are least likely to be changed are cached, and for which changes are easy to detect, such as ZIP files. A class path manager is used to create caches for selected class path elements on instantiation of the path manager. The class path manager creates a wrapper for each element in the class path to provide a level of indirection when calls are made to determine the location of a class.