IDL/Wave alternatives

[<aaron(at)boofura.swcp.com>]

I am looking for an IDL, PV-Wave, MatLab, -like product,
free and open source.

Does anybody know of any suggestions?

I have run into scilab, which seems to be the front-runner to me.
I once saw a graphing package mentioned in LINUX journal, from
one of the USA National labs... but it seemed too minimal.

I'm looking for something to do image processing.
Writing new algorithms.
If it has a nice interpreted command language, and open arhitecture,
I'm willing to add c-modules to do things like import/export of
various file formats.

I just want to get images into data arrays that I can then play with.

Thanks for any help....  including pointers to FAQ's.
-- 
Aaron Birenboim
Albuquerque, NM
aaron@ptree.abq.nm.us
http://www.swcp.com/~aaron