[Mediawiki-l] Templates

[S.C.A.I. Tradizioni del Sud]

A couple of questions:
1) I would like to create a template as this:
<pre>
    <?php
        $language='{{{lang}}}';
        $name='{{{name}}}';
        ......
    ?>
</pre>
but doesn't work.
How can I do?

2) Can I set a default value to a parameter?

Many thanks,

Giovanni