The nondescript file ImageJ.pif is a shortcut file for the Windows desktop. I removed it since I run Linux.
ImageJ thinks of the data it loads as files (FileOpener, FileInfo) where my plug-ins treat them as Input and Output Streams.
I hope ImageJ will soon take advantage of Java 2D and 3D. ImageJ uses a depreciated Java event model. Here is the warning from my Java compiler:
826 offenbach> /usr/local/java/bin/javac -deprecation ijDoc/reFig/ReFig.java
ijDoc/reFig/ReFig.java:48: Note: The method boolean action(java.awt.Event, java.lang.Object) in class java.awt.Component has been deprecated, and class ijDoc.reFig.ReFig (which is not deprecated) overrides it.
public boolean action(Event e, Object arg) {
^
Note: ijDoc/reFig/ReFig.java uses a deprecated API. Please consult the documentation for a better alternative.
At the NIH website (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/), I could not download the imageJ version 58 (which is compatible with Java JDK 1.0.2) since the files are not zipped into a single file. I did the prudent thing and up-graded my browser navigator to version 4.0.5 that supports Java JDK 1.1.
The web site offered two packages: for Mac users or Windows users. It was unclear what UNIX users such as I should do. I downloaded the window version of ImageJ unzipped it, and recompiled all classes by compiling javac ij/ImageJ.java; java ij.ImageJ;. It worked like a charm.
To test it I ran ImageJ stand-alone. I needed to download the Lena test image. I suggest to include that test image in the appropriate example that come with ImageJ.