In my opinion,"Python+Scipy+Matplotlib" can replace the "equal" libs in MATLAB. I had the same problem with python when I decided to develop a face detection software by useing Neural Networks ! In that period of time, there were no complete N.N. lib for python. I don't think that there is any comprehensive one too. long story short, if you want to stick to some small libs, that mixture is OK. But if you want to develop your field (like blending NN and DIP) you will fall in trouble .... As a solution, you can mix python and libs like OpenCV for computer vision and image processing . Check pyOpencv too :)