in persian we say: there is no shame in not knowing something, there's shame in not asking.
That's not what I am saying though. There is absolutely no shame in asking, you are correct on that. What I am saying, is sometimes you need to be able to do these things in your own.
This is in a program you found. So think like a computer scientist. How can I break this small part down? How can I make this easier? Then, in another editor. Write a small program with getch(), play with it, see if you end up understanding it.