I'm afraid I can't be very helpful to you, but you could be most helpful to some of us.
Can you elaborate on what specifically you found difficult? In some circles Python is regarded as a direct competitor to Matlab. Your preference for Python for "other things than standard mathematical work" in a scientific or engineering context could be most useful if you have some real-world examples. Also, can you elaborate on what (if anything) it is about Matlab that you feel you can't replicate in Python? Are you aware of matplotlib and numpy? thanks mt -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
