a nicer way to create structs in a loop - c++

Question

I haven't coded in C++ in ages. And recently, I'm trying to work on something
involving structs. Like this
typedef struct{
int x;
int y;
} Point;
Then in a loop, I'm trying to create new structs and put pointers to them them in a list.
Point* p;
int i, j;
while (condition){
// compute values for i and j with some function...
p = new Point;
p* = {i, j}; //initialize my struct.
list.append(p); //append this pointer to my list.
}
Now, my question is it possible to simplify this? I mean, the pointer
variable *p outside of the loop and calling p = new Point inside the loop.
Isn't there a better/nicer syntax for this?

Answer 1

Sure:
Point * p = new Point;
You should probably also give your Point class a constructor:
struct Point { // note no need for typedef
int x;
int y;
Point( int ax, int ay ) : x( ax ), y( ay ) {}
};
so that you can say:
Point * p = new Point( i, j );
You may also want to make your list a list of Point values, rather than pointers, in which case you can avoid using dynamic allocation with new - always something to be avoided wherever possible in C++.

Answer 2

The struct can have a constructor like:
struct Point{
Point(int ax, int ay):x(ax), y(ay){}
int x;
int y;
};
and then the function can look like:
int i, j;
while (condition)
{
list.append(new Point(i,j));
}

Answer 3

As structs are classes with public members by default, you could even create a constructor within the struct and initialize your point object within the loop like this:
Point* p = new Point(i,j);

Answer 4

I would venture a guess that it is extremely unlikely you really need to allocate something like a Point dynamically.
Most likely you want to add a constructor and store them by value:
list<Point> list;
list.append(Point(x, y));

Answer 5

I recommend the Factory approach. Assuming that "Point" will be the base class of many objects, you can have a "Factory" that would return pointers.
Ex:
struct Point
{
Point(int mx, int my):x(mx),y(my) {}
int x;
int y;
};
// Circle, Polygon, etc.
class Factory
{
public:
static Point *getPoint(int mx, int my) { return new Point(mx, my); }
// Circle, Polygon, etc
};
Then in code someplace:
while(cond)
{
list.append(Factory::getPoint(i, j));
}