Here’s a nice link to a pdf file with a summary of matlab, NumPy, and R commands.Very handy for people like me that cannot remember all the various commands one needs to get something done.

Also, if you haven’t tried out the new iPython Notebook, you should give it a try; it can mix markup (i.e. text–and LaTeX mathematics!) and python code and output in mathematica style. It’s wonderful for interactive work, development, and making instructional demonstrations. You’ll need to install iPython 0.12 or later, available here.

Here’s a very handy python package: the uncertainties package. If you have setuptools installed, you can install it with

sudo easy_install --upgrade uncertainties

See the web page for more info; if you’ve ever spent 10 minutes taking a boatload of partial derivatives (and if your an experimental physicist, you have)  to propagate errors, this package is an amazing time saver.

A project I’m keeping my eye on is PANDAS, which is a Python Data Analysis Library. It was created by someone working in the financial world (Wes McKinney); so I’m not clear yet that it’s the right tool for physicists, but it’s looking interesting. Here is a video introduction by the author himself.