getline vs cin

Hi everyone, I am new c++ learner and I am watching a series of youtube right now.

Watching this tutorial
YouTube

I cannot understand the reason that the tutor uses string to store information for age (using the getline function to pass information from the user) and then he converts the string into integer to make some comparisons..

It wouldn't be much simpler to use int as data type for age and then use cin >> age; to receive data from the user?

Thanks in advance

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Originally Posted by Nikosant03

It wouldn't be much simpler to use int as data type for age and then use cin >> age; to receive data from the user?

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Yes, it would be simpler if that were all the input that you intended to read, but you might want to read an integer (using the overloaded operator>>), then read a string (using getline), and then you need to worry about the trailing newline left from reading the integer before you read the string, otherwise the getline call will end up reading an empty string because it will read and find that it encounters the newline left behind before it reads the input you actually want to read. Hence, if you read entire lines into strings and parse them as needed, you can avoid having to worry about such trailing newlines. It can also be helpful in dealing with parse errors: you don't have to worry about whether there might be any other junk left on the line entered as you have already read all of it and so you can just discard it and prompt the user to try again with a brand new line.

Thank you for your answer!!