SAGE
Playing an analogue game
Here is a cool OpenSource, cross platform application mentioned on the eChalk list by a University of Washington mathematician to replace the Maths software used in education and research with a free, open-source version. Around than 100 mathematicians around the world are collaborating to develop the tool.
"SAGE for studying a huge range of mathematics, including algebra, calculus, elementary to very advanced number theory, cryptography, numerical computation, commutative algebra, group theory, combinatorics, graph theory, and exact linear algebra."
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=38459
http://www.sagemath.org/
From what I can see the home page slideshow, students can write Python scripted programs with SAGE that combine serious mathematics with anything else and view the output with a Firefox web browser. We have Python and Firefox on our computer image deployed at school, I must check out the value of SAGE for our maths staff.
Reminds me of learning Fortran as a biochemist. Fun days with real science, huge computers and lots of punched cards. :-)