Dynamic Memory Allocation for a Class Attribute

Hi,

I am fairly new to c++/oop but not to programming. In my current project, I have already written a class for complex numbers wich works reliably. I am now trying to write a class for complex polynomials using complex objects as the coeficients. Because the order of the polynomial will not be known until run time, I need to dynamically allocate an array of complex numbers to represent the coeficients. I would like this array to operate as an attribute of the polynomial class. My questions/problems are these:

1.) I am unsure how to handle the declaration in the .h file. I have tried leaving this out as well as

Code:

---

complex *coef = new complex[];

---

And

Code:

---

complex *coef = new complex[order];

---

Where order is another attribute defined in the constructor and prototyped imediately above

Within the .cpp file my code appears as:

Code:

---

//implement constructors
poly::poly(unsigned int a)
{
        order = a;
        //allocate an array of complex objects as coefficients
        complex *coef = new complex[order];
}

---

My goal is to creat the pointer so that I can use it in a for loop external to creat objects in the complex class in order to set the value of the coefficients.

Without any form of declaration I get the expected

error C2065: 'coef' : undeclared identifier

With the declaration I get the much more forboding:

error C2864: 'poly::coef' : only static const integral data members can be initialized within a class

This leads me to believe that what I would like to do may not be possible, which seems odd

Can anyone please suggest any ways in which I might fix these errors or restructure the program in a legal manner.

Thank you in advance.

Carl

You would want

Code:

---

complex *coef;

---

in the class declaration, and

Code:

---

coef = new complex[order];

---

in the constructor.

Although you should probably be using a vector instead. Also, unless this is a learning exercise, there is already a complex class in C++ that you should use instead of writing your own.

Thank you for the help. I didn't realize that after using the new command, the memory needs to be addressed as a regular variable. I was trying to continue to use a pointer apperantly without the correct syntax.

I appreciate the other pointers. I am going to look into using vectors. As for the existing complex class, some of my methods exist in some fairly wierd spaces and have unusual definitions, but thank you for the advise.

Thanks again.

Carl