The difference of gets(),getch(),getchar() and getline()

/*
Subject:        the difference of gets(),getch(),getchar() and getline()
Author:         shexinwei
School:         xidian university
Date:            2010-09-09
Laguage:       C++
IDE:              visual studio 6.o
Version:        1.0
Modify Time:  2010-09-09
*/  
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <conio.h>
#define  MAX_LEN 20
int main()
{

 //gets() : Get a line from the stdin stream.
 //Get a line from the stdin stream.
 
 cout<<"the function gets():"<<endl;
 char buffer[MAX_LEN];
 gets(buffer);
  cout<<buffer<<endl;

 // getchar():
 // marco: #define getchar()         getc(stdin)        File: STDIO.H        Get a character from a file;
 // function:  _CRTIMP int __cdecl getchar(void);       File: STDIO.H  Get a character from stdin;
  char tmp = 0;
  cout<<endl<<endl<<"the function getchar():"<<endl;
     cout<< (char)getchar(tmp) <<endl;

 //getline():
 //basic_istream<Elem, Tr>& getline(char_type *_Str, streamsize _Count);
 //Gets a line from the input stream.
        cout<<endl<<endl<<"the function getline():"<<endl; 
  cin.getline(buffer,MAX_LEN);
  cout<<buffer<<endl;

    //getch():
 //This POSIX function is deprecated beginning in Visual C++ 2005. Use the ISO C++ conformant _getch instead
//Gets a character from the console without echo.
//int _getch( void );             
//Returns the character read. There is no error return.
//Headers: <conio.h>
  cout<<endl<<endl<<"the function getch():"<<endl;
      tmp = getch();             //without echo
//   cout<<tmp<<endl;           //print the character


        system("pause");
  return 0;

}