its easier to learn than schoolboy french
there are only about 20 commands for lathe, and thats including the complex stuff.
if you have mach 3 open it and press g code button, there is a good explanation of most things there. or its in the manual.
its way more complex to get a cam post processor sorted to spit out the right code for a lathe with reversed x axis like on boxford!
reversed arcs can give very weird results so try to find the right post for the program you will be using and test it with no material in the chuck first.
i was lucky (unlucky) that my first router had to be programmed by hand at the control panel so i had to learn it.