dwyl/learn-elixir

Simple but *practical* explanation of pattern matching

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#57 opened on Aug 9, 2017

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 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Elixir (1,695 stars) (113 forks)batch import
help wantedquestion

Description

Pattern matching is one of the core things to understand in Elixir, but I'm yet to find any really good explanations of pattern matching.

Most give you very basic implementations like https://elixirschool.com/en/lessons/basics/pattern-matching/#match-operator, which are ok but leave beginner with very little to build on.

What other things can be done with pattern matching? How is it useful in a live app? Can we add more advanced examples later in the tutorial?

Contributor guide

Tech stack
elixir
Domain
documentation
Issue type
documentation
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic Elixir syntaxUnderstanding of pattern matching basics
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70
Research direction
Review the current pattern matching lesson in the learn elixir repo. Identify the basic examples provided. Research practical use cases of pattern matching in live Elixir apps, such as function parameter matching, case statements with guards, and the pin operator. Then propose new advanced examples that demonstrate these concepts in a realistic context, like parsing data or handling API responses.