If anyone else who doesn't know C++ is curious about RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization), the C2 wiki article was enlightening: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki

If anyone else who doesn't know C++ is curious about RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization), the C2 wiki article was enlightening: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ResourceAcquisitionIsInitialization http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ResourceAcquisitionIsInitialization Keep this in mind (from the wiki article): One problem with the name Resource Acquisition Is Initialization is that it is inaccurate: it's not always about resources, and it is nothing to do with initialization -- what makes the idiom tick is finalization.