That is more commonly known as destructuring. (in python and javascript at least, as well as a few others iirc)

Pattern matching is normally (in functional languages like Scala and Haskell anyway) defined as a way of taking a union type and handling each one safely. It's a sort of functional alternative to polymorphism.

That is, polymorphic code

    class Dog(Animal):
        def make_noise(self):
            return "bork bork"

    class Duck(Animal):
        def make_noise(self):
            return "quack"

would, with pattern matching be (in pseudo haskell I hope)

    make_noise :: Animal -> str
    make_noise Duck = "quack"
    make_noise Dog = "bork bork"

In other words, in an oop style you delegate to the object that it implements all methods. Whereas with pattern matching you can have a type delegate to each of the functions that can operate on it to handle it correctly. (This explanation is a disservice to functional styles, its a lot more elegant than what I describe if you do it correctly).

So basically Clojure protocols? As in, multimethods that dispatch on the type of their first argument?

Except that assuming Animal is a sum type (kind of like an enum), the computer will complain.

So a maybe type (equivalent to an Optional) is simply a sum over just and nothing (the two components). If you fall to handle nothing, the program won't compile.

Animal would work the same way. Add "Cow" as an animal, and your program won't compile until everything sanely handles Cow.

So more like a switch case over a set of options where the compiler prevents you from forgetting any.