[peerst]

I agree, besides ruby based syntax (which I don't consider a plus over Erlangs) you get pseudo mutable variables (they are not really but mimic them with a invisible sequence of Erlang like variables). The style that needs this ended up having variables like R1, R2, R2 ... in functions for sequences of operations. Its only it doesn't occur if you write in Erlang style. It might ease the transition for Ruby programmers but it is the second approach already to have Ruby syntax on the Erlang VM. The first one was abandoned probably because nobody used it. We'll see where this one will be going, its pretty young still.