problem in initializing data members outside main()

[incognito]

If the data member of a class is public, isn't it syntactically correct to assign value to it anywhere after the class declaration?
I am trying following code.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class rect
{
  public:
  int x,y;
};

class rect obj;

obj.x=1;

int main()
{
return 0;
}

class_without_functions.cpp:13:1: error: ‘obj’ does not name a type

Program doesn't give error while creating objects. But I cannot assign value to x.
Am I not putting it in a correct syntax? Kindly help

[bradw]

I believe the problem is that the 'code' outside of main does not get 'executed'. The assignment of 1 to the variable obj.x would require that the line of code be executed.

This is a statement:
obj.x = 1;

Changing it to a default constructor seems to work. But it also seems to violate your "class without functions" idea because the default constructor looks like a function.

The following code compiles and executes:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class rect
{
  public:
  int x,y;
  rect(int X, int Y) {x = X; y = Y;}
};

class rect obj(1,0);

int main()
{
  return 0;
}

[kbw]

If the data member of a class is public, isn't it syntactically correct to assign value to it anywhere after the class declaration?

No.

Constructors and destructors are called automatically, and will be called outside a function for global variables of that type. But, generally speaking, code is executed within a function.

[incognito]

@bradw and kbw - Oh ! You are right. I was just trying to experiment with these things :D
Was so behind assigning value to that member that I literally forgot basics of a code execution.
Thanks for the help :)