IT ...

Tasked to look for alternatives to Matlab, I haven't touched Matlab for long time. Anyway, google tells me Octave. Command for a start before you "edit" your own functions.

path ('~/octave') # put your src directory in LOADPATH, <-- Bug?
edit home '~/myproject' # if not using default.
edit editor "gedit %s &" # default emacs, can set vim also