This report provides a practical overview of numerical solutions to the heat equation using the finite difference method (FDM). The forward time, centered space (FTCS), the backward time, centered space (BTCS), and Crank-Nicolson schemes are developed, and applied to a simple problem in1volving the one-dimensional heat equation. Complete, working Matlab and FORTRAN codes for each program are presented. The results of running the codes on finer (one-dimensional) meshes, and with smaller time steps are demonstrated. These sample calculations show that the schemes realize theoretical predictions of how their truncation errors depend on mesh spacing and time step. The Matlab codes are straightforward and allow us to see the differences in implementation between explicit method (FTCS) and implicit methods (BTCS). The codes also allow us to experiment with the stability limit of the FTCS scheme.