RAII was something that C++ incidentally made possible. Nobody realized the power until after C++ existed. It was more of a "look at the cool thing we can do" when C++ was invented, only after did people realize just how great/powerful it is.
kind of both as I understand it. Destructors was something C++ was going for, but the full power doesn't seem to be something that was really understood for a long time after they existed. At least not in C++ as I remember it in those days. Maybe Bjarne has a better vision that my professors didn't share though.
