Thread: cin.get() curiosity

I have been learning C++ for a bit now, and i am noticing that cin.get(); seems to be unpredictable. Sometimes it works (that is it waits for input to continue), other times the program will just continue to input. I have heard it has to do with bad steams (like inputing letter for an integral value) but I made absolutely sure this was not happening and it did not help. I then was told about cin.good();. This did not seem to help. So what am I missing? is it a poor programming habit? Here is a simple example where cin.get does not do what I expect:

Code:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    int a;
    cin>>a;
    cout<<a<<endl;
    cin.get();
    return 0;
}

Place cin.ignore(); below cin>>a; -it should work then...

It's often asked(something like this was my first post here). When using cin.get, or any of the get() functions from the string library you must clear the input buffer.
cin.ignore(); does this. So as said, just place it before your cin.get(); and you're good to go.

Don't feel bad, because I've never seen buffers mentioned in any programming textbooks I've read. So it's probably not like you just didn't read that part, more like they didn't put it in!