Learning PHP etc

I would like to learn PERL, PHP etc and although i can confidently use HTML and CSS i just can't seem to grasp the basics of getting started with the above mentioned. As i don't have a web site and my ISP don't provde support for anything other than basic broadband i downloaded and installed XAMPP on my computer and thought i was all set up. But i must still be doing something wrong because when i open XAMPP and then open Notepad and type in: <?php echo "Hello World ";?> nothing happens? When i re-open the browser after saving the document in .php format i am greeted by a blank screen? I know i must be doing something really stupid but could anyone help me out here please Thanks. Daunted

 

Readme files

Seems the first step is reading and understanding the XAMPP install ....

files are rendered from the root .. http://localhost/test.html
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#1168
Regards,
TxClaw