In case you do not have access to MATLAB (or if there aren't enough licenses to go around), you might want to try Octave which implements a lot of functions that are available in MATLAB, and maintains most of the syntax. The good part is that a lot of toolboxes that you have to pay extra for while purchasing MATLAB are implemented in Octave, so you could use them in Octave, or adapt them for your own use in MATLAB.
The bad part is that it's not graphical, and while you may not mind that for writing and running your programs, it's very hard to create and print plots. It's still a very useful program, so ahead and try it.
[Wikipedia page on Octave]
