Easiest way for beginner to make "macros"

Hello,

I am putting a list of events on my page and would like to abstract out the formatting using a simple macro. For example, something like \event{name}{location}{date} could produce name, location, date or date, location, name depending on how the macro is defined.

From searching the forums I have found several possible ways to do this including converting from latex, scripting php, using a database, and using separate plugins, and I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on the easiest way to do this for a beginner? A link to reading material for the more advanced ways would also be useful as well.

Thank you in advance for any direction