delete in the global namespace a syntax error

[ch4k3r82]

Hello there everyone! This is something that I don´t seem to understand: why can´t I use operator delete in the global namespace. Please bear with me as I am a C programmer trying my transition to C++. Here´s some code:

  class point_2d {
  public:
      point_2d()=default;
      point_2d(double x, double y): x_{x}, y_{y} {}
      // more code here
  private:
      double x_=.0, y_=.0;
};

point_2d * origin = new point_2d{};

delete origin; // error!

int main(){ delete origin; // Ok! }    

Why is it ok to use delete inside main whereas in the global namespace every compiler I use refuse to compile (VC 2013, gcc 4.9 and LLVM 3.5).

[Zhuge]

You can't put arbitrary code in global scope in C++ or in C; writing delete statements there would be equivalent to putting if statements or while loops in the global scope, which isn't allowed. Compare delete to a call of free() in C; you can't have that in the global scope either. Does that make sense?

[ch4k3r82]

Sorted! Yep that made sense... thanks a lot.