Thank you both for the info, being able to see the effects of my coding will really help me learn, so that little 'pause' part is bound to help me a great deal.

My goal is to make a basic 2D side scrolling game for the PC, kind of like Super Mario I guess. No big project, nothing fancy, just to learn the basics and then make a new goal. So obviously being able to see the results helps lol.

Just out of curiosity, is there a way to export the programs I make, so they can be run outside of the compiler? i.e. an exe as the game would be booted up anyway? It's just I'd like to keep them and be able to send them to my brother to show off (he's keen to learn C++ also)