-> I am pretty new to C++, compiling, etc., I really want to learn this 
-> stuff...  I am trying to figure out how to validate input 
-> from a user to 
-> make it accept only positive numeric values.  I was using a 
-> while loop to 
-> check it, but when the user enters an alpha character, I get 
-> stuck in the 
-> loop of death, I am sure many of you have experienced this.  
-> I asked my 
-> instructor how to do this, but he said that he wasn't sure.  
-> would an if 
-> statement nested in a while loop solve my problem??

I think this question is more for the dev list but ....

Try reading up on isdigit.
'man isdigit'
this should help

The Wolf