Learn Functional Programming with Elixir

Wrapping Up

This has been an eye-opening chapter. You’ll never look at equals signs and function arguments the same. Pattern matching is an excellent feature; once you take the first step, you won’t go back. Let’s see what we’ve explored:

• We can use pattern matching in simple variable assignments.

• The = operator lets us create a pattern-matching expression that makes two things match, or fail if there’s no match.

• Pattern matching can extract values of complex data types in a process called destructuring.

• Function clauses and pattern matching can help us control the program flow.

• We can use Elixir control-flow structures to solve simple tasks quickly.

Knowing how to control the program flow opens up the possibility of learning how to repeat and ...