There is a plethora of mathematical packages that I am currently using. From time to time I discover interesting tips, tricks and links that I would like to share with you:

Matlab

• MATLAB coding standards
• File repository for MATLAB and Simulink can be found here

Maple

Mathematica

• Some very beautiful visualizations using Mathematica can be found in Paul Nylander's blog.

Octave - Alternative to Matlab

R - Alternative to SPSS and SAS

Maxima - Alternative to Maple and Mathematica

Sage - Alternative to Matlab, Mapla and Mathematica

Scilab - Alternative to Matlab

GNU/TeXmacs - Front-end editor for Octave, R and Maxima

Python or ActiveState if you are on Windows

First thing first, get an editor. Vim or notepad will do the job but better get something a bit more user-friendly; Komodo is a good option. Then go ahead and download the following packages:

• Python Imaging Library (PIL; 1.1.7)
• Scientific tools for Python (SciPy; 0.8.0rc1)
• Numerical Python (NumPy; 1.4.1)