Elixir is prettier than Erlang but it really mess up on certain things.
Erlang have pattern matching via function with same name and you can tell if it's a group of pattern matching with semicolon and period. But with Elixir you can't tell it's just def and end.
Erlang's:
-module(recursive).
-export([fac/1]).
fac(N) when N == 0 -> 1;
fac(N) when N > 0 -> N * fac(N-1).
You can tell fac(N) both are in a group of pattern matching cause ';' and '.'. The '.' denote the last pattern matching function.
Elixir:
defmodule Factorial do
def of(0), do: 1
def of(n), do: n * of(n-1)
end
You can't tell because there is no ';' and '.'. This is a trivial case but when your Elixir's module have a tons of function in it, this issue become relevant.
Erlang have pattern matching via function with same name and you can tell if it's a group of pattern matching with semicolon and period. But with Elixir you can't tell it's just def and end.
Erlang's:
-module(recursive).
-export([fac/1]).
fac(N) when N == 0 -> 1;
fac(N) when N > 0 -> N * fac(N-1).
You can tell fac(N) both are in a group of pattern matching cause ';' and '.'. The '.' denote the last pattern matching function.
Elixir:
defmodule Factorial do
endYou can't tell because there is no ';' and '.'. This is a trivial case but when your Elixir's module have a tons of function in it, this issue become relevant.