[erlang-questions] Bug ?!

[Richard A. O'Keefe]

We've seen a number of explanations for why <variable>#<record>.<field>
isn't allowed in a pattern match.  Basically, it's because that expands
to element(<field number>, <variable>), and that happens not to be allowed.

Of course, it could be given a different expansion, so the question
of whether field access SHOULD be allowed in a pattern remains open.

My first reaction was "well, a reasonable user wanted to use it, so why not?"
The more I thought about it, the less I liked it, but I can't quite put my
finger on why not.  It's something to do with blurring the distinction
between patterns and expressions too much.  Can anyone else put it into words?