\_ 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.  

Cheat.  Use implicit type conversion or something.  Fall back to
sprintf/sscanf if you need to.  YMMV, C++ has been a long time back
now. 

Sorry, replace "Cheat" with "use existing technology as it was meant
to be used."

David