> > the program look likes this:

 > > struct unit {char ch;int i};

 > > class dim
 > > {
 > >   unit *x;
 > > };

 > > x=new unit[]={...};

 > I think you'll find that all elements of a class are by
 > defualt private, hence access to those elements by
 > functions outside the class will cause the compiler to
 > barf.

This is true, although in this case 'struct' was used - meaning that all
elements in a struct are by default public.  In any case, this isn't the
issue; the default constructor for this struct (aka class) will do nothing,
so it should work regardless.

I assume that the call to operator new occurs within a member function of
class dim (necessarily, there's no reference to an object there, so 'x'
would need to refer to the implicit 'this').

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