[sitkack]

If you get tired of the switch statement, pattern matching is the functional dual of polymorphic dispatch.

[eru]

Even though, pattern matching (and algebraic datatypes) would work just as well in an imperative language as in a function setting.

(Not sure, whether you'd need garbage collection to make pattern matching really useful, though.

[sitkack]

Pattern matching is welcomed everywhere, it saves conditionals and keeps the code clean.