Work is under way on extending the Python interface to Madagascar. With new tools, you should be able to use an interactive Python session rather than a Unix shell to run Madagascar modules. Here are some examples:

import m8r as sf
import numpy, pylab

f = sf.spike(n1=1000,k1=300)[0]

# sf.spike is an operator
# f is an RSF file object

f.attr()

# Inspect the file with sfattr

b = sf.bandpass(fhi=2,phase=1)[f]

# Now f is filtered through sfbandpass

c = sf.spike(n1=1000,k1=300).bandpass(fhi=2,phase=1)[0]

# c is equivalent to b but created with a pipe

g = c.wiggle(clip=0.02,title='Welcome to Madagascar')

# g is a Vplot file object

g.show()

# Display it on the screen

d = b - c

# Elementary arithmetic operations on files are defined

g = g + d.wiggle(wanttitle=False)

# So are operations on plots

g.show()

# This shows a movie

pylab.show(pylab.plot(b))
c = numpy.clip(b,0,0.01)

# RSF file objects can be passed to pylab or numpy

c.attr()
s = c[300:310]

print s

# Taking a slice outputs a numpy array

c = sf.clip(clip=0.01)[b]
c.attr()

# Alternatively, apply sfclip

For doing reproducible research, one can also use the new syntax inside SConstruct files, as follows: 

from rsf.proj import *
import m8r as sf

Flow('filter',None,sf.spike(n1=1000,k1=300).bandpass(fhi=2,phase=1))
Result('filter',sf.wiggle(clip=0.02,title='Welcome to Madagascar'))

End()

See also a 4-line dot-product test and 20-line conjugate-gradient algorithm.

The picture shows a screenshot of an interactive session in a SAGE web-based notebook