Serial problem after implementing data structures

Question

Context

I first ran a sketch (on Arduino Uno) without any custom data structure and list, so I was using a bunch of arrays, methods and other primitive variables. And it worked perfectly.

My program acts like a menu which takes serial user input to perform actions. So you could have serial input "man r+(100,0,345)". Or just "man" to set this mode active, and later "r+(100,0,345)" to actualize the data in the "r" field in the "man" instance. I use a custom data structure to manage the input (class called Mode), and a linked list (class called ModeList).

Problem

I implemented some data structures (an object and a list) to manage incoming serial data, without modifying the rest of the program. But now, serial communication is not working properly: If I add Serial.print("Allo") anywhere in the sketch, it will print spaces for a while and stop, before I send any serial data. If it is in the setup() function, it prints spaces continuously with some characters from "Allo" from time to time. There's always a different problem along those lines, depending on where I put that simple print statement.

Here follows the sketch, the header files of the Mode and ModeList classes... By the way, I suspect a memory management problem.

The sketch

#include "Mode.h"
#include "ModeList.h"

const int inputSize=12;
const int nbModes=4;
int input;
int toSet[inputSize];
int i;

char manName[3]={'m','a','n'};
char cutName[3]={'c','u','t'};
char levName[3]={'l','e','v'};
char autName[3]={'a','u','t'};

Mode m=Mode(0,manName);
Mode c=Mode(1,cutName);
Mode l=Mode(2,levName);
Mode a=Mode(3,autName);
Mode* man=&m;
Mode* cut=&c;
Mode* lev=&l;
Mode* aut=&a;
ModeList modeList=ModeList();

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.print("Allo");
  modeList.add(man);
  modeList.add(cut);
  modeList.add(lev);
  modeList.add(aut);
  }

void loop() {
  for(int j=0;j<inputSize;j++)
  {
    toSet[j]=NULL;
  }
  i=0;
  if(Serial.available()>0)
  {
    while(Serial.available())
    {
      if(i<inputSize)
      {
        input=Serial.read();
        if(input!=' ' && input!='(' && input !=')' && input!=',' && input!='\n')
        {
          toSet[i]=input;
          i++;
        }
      }
    }
  }

  if(serialMode(man)||man->getStatus())
  {
    //Set man on
    modeList.setMode(man);

    if(toSet[3]=='r')
    {
      if(toSet[4]=='+')
      {
        //Set ypr rate
        Serial.println("Set ypr rate +");
      }
      else if(toSet[4]=='-')
      {
        //Set ypr rate
        Serial.println("Set ypr rate -");
      }
      else
      {
        //Set ypr rate
        Serial.println("Set ypr rate");
      }
    }
    else if(toSet[3]=='a')
    {
      if(toSet[4]=='+')
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle +");
      }
      else if(toSet[4]=='-')
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle -");
      }
      else
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle");
      }
    }
    else if(toSet[3]=='t')
    {
      if(toSet[4]=='+')
      {
        //Set thrust
        Serial.println("Set thrust +");
      }
      else if(toSet[4]=='-')
      {
        //Set thrust
        Serial.println("Set thrust -");
      }
      else
      {
        //Set thrust
        Serial.println("Set thrust");
      }
    }
  }
  if(serialMode(cut)||cut->getStatus())
  {
    //Cut engines
    modeList.setMode(cut);
    if(serialMode(cut))
      Serial.println("Cut");
  }
  if(serialMode(lev)||lev->getStatus())
  {
    //Stabilize axes
    modeList.setMode(lev);
    if(serialMode(lev))
      Serial.println("Level");
  }
  if(serialMode(aut)||aut->getStatus())
  {
    //Set aut on
    modeList.setMode(aut);
    if(serialMode(aut))
      Serial.println("Set aut on");
    if(toSet[3]=='s')
    {
      if(toSet[4]=='+')
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle +");
      }
      else if(toSet[4]=='-')
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle -");
      }
      else
      {
        //Set ypr angle
        Serial.println("Set ypr angle");
      }
    }
    else if(toSet[3]=='A')
    {
      if(toSet[4]=='+')
      {
        //Set altitude
        Serial.println("Set altitude +");
      }
      else if(toSet[4]=='-')
      {
        //Set altitude
        Serial.println("Set altitude -");
      }
      else
      {
        //Set altitude
        Serial.println("Set altitude");
      }
    }
  }
  delay(10);
}

bool serialMode(Mode* inputMode)
{
  char* modeName;
  modeName=inputMode->getName();
  Serial.print("ALLO");
  if(toSet[0]==*modeName&&toSet[1]==*(modeName+1)&&toSet[2]==*(modeName+2))
  {
    Serial.print("Set ");
    for(int i=0;i<3;i++)
    {
      Serial.print(*(modeName+i));
    }
    Serial.println(" on");
    return true;
  }
  else
    return false;
}

The Mode class header

#include "Arduino.h"

class Mode
{
    public:
        Mode(int id, char* name);
        int getId();
        Mode* getNext();
        void setNext(Mode m);
        void setStatus(bool status);
        bool getStatus();
        char* getName();
    private:
        char *_name;
        int _id;
        Mode* _next;
        bool _status;
};

The ModeList class header

class ModeList
{
    public:
        void add(Mode* input);
        int get(int pos);
        ModeList();
        void setMode(Mode* inputMode);
    private:
        Mode* start;
        Mode* end;
};

Answer 1

If I add Serial.print("Allo") anywhere in the sketch, it will print spaces for a while and stop, before I send any serial data.

Classic symptoms of using up all available RAM.

As a workaround I would use the F() macro.

eg.

    Serial.println(F("Set ypr rate +"));

Do that in all places where you are printing string literals. That would save you a couple of hundred bytes.