[latch]

what happens if x.dispose() throws an exception?

if (x != null) try { x.dipose(); } catch (Exception){} }

it's why the using keyword is so nice. Still, this is all hoops languages force us to deal with when they shouldn't (which is the OPs point)

[JulianMorrison]

You're lucky Java is checked at compile time. Ruby would eat that "no such method dipose" and silently leak x.

[CodeMage]

You're lucky Java is checked at compile time.

Not lucky enough, because x.dispose() could throw an unchecked exception.