PHP file-type confusion, help me to clear this up

I am creating this thread basically because of my “argument” with user [B]Mike H.[/B] in the recent[URL=http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=506803]A contact form that doesn’t use an e-mail client[/URL] thread (which I don’t want to “float” anymore further) that I opened on Digital Point forums a few days ago; particularly see my and his posts below the [URL=http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4807100&postcount=15]15th post[/URL].

So could you please help me to clear this confusion up, i.e. I just want you to confirm or disavow what I said/wrote in there, quoting (it’s a bit modified text though):

[QUOTE]

I just said that the PHP code is just a plain text (i.e. not binary or whatever), same as is HTML code. Because as we all know: one thing is a file-type (and its extension), and the other thing is the format in which it’s written, i.e. basically .txt, .html, .css are all files with different extensions (and of course with different programs associated to open them on double-click), but they all consist of just plain text, compare to .exe, .bin etc. files.
…
I was simply thinking that if, as mentioned, the PHP code is just a plain text, then same as in case of HTML files/code (i.e. you just create a plain .txt file, and change its extension to become a .html file), I would only need to change the file’s extension with no need to create a special file-style under Folder Options — View. You see, I simply thought that this same “princip” applies also to PHP files, i.e. that simply changing the extension to .php (from .txt for instance) makes the respective file a PHP file.

[/QUOTE]

Anyways, as I see things, user [URL=http://forums.digitalpoint.com/member.php?u=77852]Mike H.[/URL] simply assumed that I am not computing-knowledgeable and that I am not creating “[I]*.php[/I]” files, but “[I]*.txt.php[/I]” ones instead. While of course I haven’t, I mean I don’t even use Explorer as my file-manager (nor as OS’s default shell), so there is no “hidding of known file-types” on my PC.

So again, my question is basically:

[B] I am right that you create a PHP file simply by writing the PHP code (which is AFAIK in plain text) into a common .txt file (or for that matter already into a file with.php extension), and then change the respective file’s extension from .txt to .php??![/B]

Oh and once again regarding file-types: AFAIK they basically only associate an extension with certain file-type, so that the OS knows with/in which program to open a certain file when one double-clicks on it. While file-type in terms of file-format (i.e. for instance .exes being in binary, .txt, .html etc. being in plain text, .docs being in MS-Word format etc.) is something completely different!!

tayiper

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