Hi,
You are able to print text and simulation variables to the Octave console window, but the variables are not accessible by name from the console. The console window is primarily intended for diagnostics and debugging, and can be used as a computational environment (enter formulas, see results). Further, you can make use of Octave functions manually, but not execute full scripts (this is the purpose of the Simulations Scripts window interface).
If you leave statements open-ended (code lines do not end with a semicolon) you can effectively print the result to the Console, which may provide one form of debugging. Otherwise, there is a builtin compiler that provides error checking such as for syntax issues.
Does this answer your question?
Kris