Comment by 4gotunameagain

Calls a simple swap function with pointers inscrutable (the only hard to decipher character is the asterisk), and as a good counterexample provides this ?

  -module(ping).
  -export([start/0, ping/1]).

  start() ->
      register(ping, spawn(fun() -> ping(0) end)).

  ping(Count) ->
      receive
          {pong, Pong_PID} ->
              io:format("Ping received pong (~p)~n", [Count]),
              Pong_PID ! {ping, self()},
              ping(Count + 1)
      end.

I am not against functional programming, or using the tools you love, but at least make a valid argument about it ;)