Python Home
Python is a versatile scripting language that can do everything from downloading data from a website, to plotting netCDF files in 3D and everything in between. It's a great language to learn for beginners to programming as well as for pros, becasue it's expandability makes it as simple or as complex as necessary. And best of all, Python is free and open-source, making it ideal for academic work.
Installation
There are two main versions of Python, Python 2 and Python 3. Python 3 is the future, but many modules only work with Python 2.x. I use Python 2.7 currently, but plan to move to 3.2 in the future.
Many modern operating systems such as Mac OS X and Linux come with Python installed, but if you don't have root/sudo access, you might wish to have your own installation, as it makes it easier to install additional modules.
I recommend downloading and installing the Anaconda Python Distribution. It allows you to install Python in your home directory without root permissions and there are versions for Mac, Linux and even Windows. Anaconda contains all the main scientific packages that you need out of the box, and provides an easy way to download additional ones (such as netCDF).
Essential modules for atmospheric scientists include:
Numpy
Matplotlib
Matplotlib Basemap
Scipy
netCDF4-python
pygrib
For additional information on Python for the atmospheric scientist or meteorologist, I recommend visitng the following sites:
Johnny Lin's PyAOS - http://pyaos.johnny-lin.com
Alex DeCaria's Python Class Notes - http://snowball.millersville.edu/~adecaria/ESCI386P/esci386_main.html