Help with parameter of a function

[BairdGoW]

Question: what is this string promt my teacher keeps using

I just got hired as a firefighter and I would need to take this class again but since I do hope to one day make my own programs for sound engineering i am still trying to learn. I have been reading the book all night and asking my friend who is a senior programmer but he just gets mad at me for not understanding lmao.

So my teacher made this header file with tools prototypes

  #include<string>
//using namespace std;

#ifndef TOOLS_LOCK
#define TOOLS_LOCK

namespace tools_namespace
{
	extern const int SCREEN_WIDTH;

	std::string	swab( char value, int howMany );
	void	pause( std::string prompt );
	void	flush(void);
	int		getInt			( std::string prompt );
	float	getFloat		( std::string prompt );
	char	getChar			( std::string prompt );
	std::string	getString	( std::string prompt );
	std::string	getLine		( std::string prompt );
	bool	getBool			( std::string prompt );
	int		getBoundedInt	( std::string prompt,
								int lowerBound,
								int upperBound );
	int getPositiveInt		( std::string prompt );
	int getNonNegativeInt	( std::string prompt );
	void handleInputError	( std::string message );

	int width		( int number );
	int magnitude	( int value );
	int minimum( int a, int b );
	int maximum( int a, int b );

	bool isOdd( int value );
}

#endif 

Now here is the tools.cpp with the actual tools with the math. Im about to take a test later and we have to use his getNonNegativeInt function found at line 123. if someone could explain how this works I would be super greatful. the thing throwing me off is this "string prompt" crap everywhere in this code.

#include<string>
#include<iostream>
#include"Tools.h"
#include"CompileSwitches.h"
using namespace std;

namespace tools_namespace
{
	const int SCREEN_WIDTH = 80;

	string swab( char swabValue, int howMany )
	{
		string swabString;
		for ( int charsNeeded = howMany
				; charsNeeded > 0
				; --charsNeeded )
			swabString = swabString + swabValue;
		return swabString;
	}

	void pause( string prompt )
	{
		cout << prompt;
		cin.ignore(999,'\n');
	}

	// clear input garbage
	void flush( void )
	{
		cin.ignore(999,'\n');
	}

	int getInt( string prompt )
	{
		int userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			cout << prompt;
			cin >> userInput;
			flush();
			if ( !cin.fail() ) break;
			handleInputError("Non-Numeric input.");
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	float getFloat( string prompt )
	{
		float userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			cout << prompt;
			cin >> userInput;
			flush();
			if ( !cin.fail() ) break;
			handleInputError("Non-Numeric input.");
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	int magnitude ( int value )
	{
		return (value>=0) ? value : -value;
	}

	int width( int number )
	{
		int digitCount = 0;
		if ( number < 0 )
		{
			++digitCount; // for the sign
			number = -number;
		}
		for ( ; number >= 10 ; number /= 10 )
			++digitCount;
		++digitCount; // for the last digit
		return digitCount;
	}

	int minimum( int a, int b )
	{
		return ( a < b ) ? a : b;
		//if ( a < b )
		//	return a;
		//else
		//	return b;
	}

	int maximum( int a, int b )
	{
		return ( a > b ) ? a : b;
		//if ( a < b )
		//	return a;
		//else
		//	return b;
	}

	int getBoundedInt( string prompt,
						int lowerBound, int higherBound )
	{
		int userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			userInput = getInt( prompt );
			if ( userInput >= lowerBound
					&& userInput <= higherBound )
				break;
			cout << "Value must be in the range "
					<< lowerBound
					<< "..."
					<< higherBound
					<< ". Try again."
					<< endl;
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	int getPositiveInt( string prompt )
	{
		return getBoundedInt( prompt, 1, INT_MAX );
	}

	int getNonNegativeInt( string prompt )
	{
		return getBoundedInt( prompt, 0, INT_MAX );
	}

	char getChar( string prompt )
	{
		char userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			cout << prompt;
			cin >> userInput;
			flush();
			if ( !cin.fail() ) break;
			handleInputError("Input failed.");
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	string getString( string prompt )
	{
		string userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			cout << prompt;
			cin >> userInput;
			flush();
			if ( !cin.fail() ) break;
			handleInputError("Input failed.");
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	void handleInputError( string message )
	{
		cin.clear();
		flush();
		cout << message << " Try again." << endl;
	}

	string getLine( string prompt )
	{
		string userInput;
		while (true)
		{
			cout << prompt;
			getline(cin,userInput);
			if ( !cin.fail() ) break;
			cin.clear();
			flush();
			cout << "Input failed - Try again." << endl;
		}
		return userInput;
	}

	bool getBool( string prompt )
	{
		while (true)
		{
			char userInput = getChar(prompt);
			if ( userInput == 'y' || userInput == 'Y' )
				return true;
			if ( userInput == 'n' || userInput == 'N' )
				return false;
			cout << "Please enter y or n." << endl;
		}
	}

	bool isOdd( int aNumber )
	{
#ifndef GROSS
		return magnitude(aNumber)%2 == 1;
#else
		if ( aNumber < 0 )
			aNumber = -aNumber;
		int remainder = aNumber%2;
		if ( remainder == 1 || remainder == -1)
			return true;
		else if ( remainder != 1 )
			return false;
#endif
	}
}

[AbstractionAnon]

the thing throwing me off is this "string prompt" crap everywhere in this code.

string prompt is passed as an argument to a number of functions.

In each of these functions, the code does a cout << prompt; This allows the various functions to output a variable prompt. In a few cases, prompt is passed to a lower level function. Example:

  float f1, f2; 
  f1 = get_float ("Enter first float");
  f2 = get_float ("Enter second float");