[erlang-questions] some language changes

[Robert Virding]

James Hague wrote:
>>> * destructive updates of local variables (that is, removing the
>>> single-assignment property)
>> AAAAA!!!!!!   Absolutely no.
> 
> There's absolutely nothing wrong with it.  It's exactly the same as:
> 
> A = A
> A1 = A + B
> A2 = A1 + 5
> 
> etc., but less ugly.  And it's easy to do in BEAM while still avoiding
> destructive updates of *data structures*.  People have requested this
> in Erlang before, and the main problem that it conflicts with the
> semantics of pattern matching.  But BEAM supports it just fine.

Why is it less ugly. The problem is not whether the BEAM supports but if 
it fits and we want it. You could probably add a lot of stuff if go 
after what the BEAM supports.

Robert