How to prepare data structures and classes?

Question

How can I port these structures to arduino ide, I also get error when I define pointers

// pointer to classes example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Rectangle {
  int width, height;
public:
  Rectangle(int x, int y) : width(x), height(y) {}
  int area(void) { return width * height; }
};


int main() {
  Rectangle obj (3, 4);
  Rectangle * foo, * bar, * baz;
  foo = &obj;
  bar = new Rectangle (5, 6);
  baz = new Rectangle[2] { {2,5}, {3,6} };
  cout << "obj's area: " << obj.area() << '\n';
  cout << "*foo's area: " << foo->area() << '\n';
  cout << "*bar's area: " << bar->area() << '\n';
  cout << "baz[0]'s area:" << baz[0].area() << '\n';
  cout << "baz[1]'s area:" << baz[1].area() << '\n';       
  delete bar;
  delete[] baz;
  return 0;
}

In CPP shell it works

I try to put it like this

class Rectangle {
  int width, height;
public:
  Rectangle(int x, int y) : width(x), height(y) {}
  int area(void) { return width * height; }
};

  Rectangle obj (3, 4);
  Rectangle * foo, * bar, * baz;
  foo = &obj;
  bar = new Rectangle (5, 6);
  baz = new Rectangle[2] { {2,5}, {3,6} };

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:

}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

}

I get an error

sketch_nov27a.ino:10:3: error: 'foo' does not name a type
sketch_nov27a.ino:11:3: error: 'bar' does not name a type
sketch_nov27a.ino:12:3: error: 'baz' does not name a type
Error compiling.

Answer 1

The problem is that the lines saying foo = ... etc. are assignment operations. C++ lets you declare and immediately initialise variables at global scope, but after that you can only assign to them inside a function. In your original program, all your declarations/assignments were inside main(), which is why it worked there.

For your Arduino program, you could change the assignments to initialisations instead (in global scope):

Rectangle obj (3, 4);
Rectangle * foo = &obj;
Rectangle * bar = new Rectangle (5, 6);
Rectangle * baz = new Rectangle[2] { {2,5}, {3,6} };

Alternatively, you could leave the declarations in global scope and move the assignments into setup():

Rectangle obj (3, 4);
Rectangle * foo, * bar, * baz;

void setup() {
    foo = &obj;
    bar = new Rectangle (5, 6);
    baz = new Rectangle[2] { {2,5}, {3,6} };
}

Answer 2

You put a bunch of code in a place where you can't have it. Move the assignments into a function body.