Does it matter if my servers version of PHP is different

[JamesA]

I'm new to building my site on my local machine.
When I build a Joomla site on my local machine and then upload it to my hosting account, I get warnings about possible problems because of differing versions of PHP.
My hosting plan has PHP 5.5 CGI (5.5.14) although my joomla backend says its PHP Version 5.5.20 and I guess my xampp is PHP Version 5.6.3
Does this matter once both my xampp and my hosting plan both have PHP versions exceeding joomlas requirements?
Should I look for an earlier version of xampp so that it has the same version of PHP as my hosting plan?
Or is there a way to change the version of PHP in my xampp?

Forgive my newbieness

[Nobbie]

Does this matter once both my xampp and my hosting plan both have PHP versions exceeding joomlas requirements?

Sometimes it does, but there is no "yes" or "no" for this question. It depends on many many things. Simply try it.

Should I look for an earlier version of xampp so that it has the same version of PHP as my hosting plan?

Only if you get severe errors on your local installation.

Or is there a way to change the version of PHP in my xampp?

No, you only can switch to an older Xampp. But i would not do so, if there is no error (see above).

Finally, there is no reason for using Xampp, as all Linux distributions deliver their own (very well maintained) Apache/PHP/MySQL versions. In that case, you are free to change single components. But anyway, i would not downgrade to an older PHP without real reason.