A C++ destructor is useful for freeing any resources owned by the object, not only memory. It may be files, sockets, mutexes, semaphores, or any other resource handles. Using a destructor is a smart way of preventing resource leaks. Wrap the resource handling in a C++ class and make a destructor that frees any allocated resources. I don't see any such method in Java. You have to explicitly free the resource, and this can be tricky if there are many possible exit paths.
