Thread: atoi or scanf()

Why do I sometimes see atoi used instead of scanf().

struct store{
int number;
};

int main()
{
struct store shop;

char age[10];

printf("input a number:>");
gets(age); /* ok. should be fgets */

shop.number=atoi(age); /* why this */
scanf("%d",&shop.number), /* instead of this */
}

/* also does atoi work like this */

/* scans the array age element by element 0=49, 1=50, 2=51 */
/* converts these ascii values into there digit equivalents 1,2,3 */
/* and add each one to shop.number */


thanks for all the guidence guys.