[erlang-questions] case statements really required??

[Zoltan Lajos Kis]

kiran wrote:
> I dont think the no of lines matter "so much" (4-5 lines diff is not 
> much) .. what matters to me more is whether the code is "functional" 
> (following fp) or not.
> In fact no of lines can be saved using pattern matching functions in 
> most of the scenarios if thats the concern.
> Using functions and pattern matching makes the code more functional 
> and can be more optimized by erlang vm than using cases (am i right?? 
> comments please ... ).
>
Can you elaborate on your "metric of functionality", that makes a 
function more functional than a case construct?