Function clause error Erlang - functional-programming

Question

I am trying to understand process communication in erlang. Here I have a master process and five friends process. If a friend sends a message to any of the other 5 they have to reply back. But the master should be aware of all this. I am pasting the code below.
-module(prog).
-import(lists,[append/2,concat/1]).
-import(maps,[from_lists/1,find/2,get/2,update/3]).
-import(string,[equal/2]).
-import(file,[consult/1]).
-export([create_process/1,friends/4, master/1, main/0,prnt/1]).
%% CREATE PROCESS
create_process([])->ok;
create_process([H|T])->
{A,B} = H,
Pid = spawn(prog,friends,[B,self(),0,A]),
register(A,Pid),
create_process(T).
%% FRIENDS PROCESS
friends(Msg, M_pid, State, Self_name)->
S = lists:concat([Self_name," state =",State,"\n"]),
io:fwrite(S),
if
State == 0 ->
timer:sleep(500),
io:fwrite("~p~n",[Self_name]),
lists:foreach(fun(X) -> whereis(X)!{Self_name,"intro",self()} end, Msg),
friends(Msg, M_pid, State + 1, Self_name);
State > 0 ->
receive
{Process_name, Process_msg, Process_id} ->
I = equal(Process_msg,"intro"),
R = equal(Process_msg,"reply"),
XxX = lists:concat([Self_name," recieved ",Process_msg," from ",Process_name,"\n"]),
io:fwrite(XxX),
if
I == true ->
io:fwrite("~p~n",[whereis(Process_name)]),
M_pid!{lists:concat([Self_name," received intro message from ", Process_name , "[",Process_id,"]"]), self()},
io:fwrite(I),
whereis(Process_name)!{Self_name, "reply",self()},
friends(Msg, M_pid, State + 1, Self_name);
R == true ->
M_pid!{lists:concat([Self_name," received reply message from ", Process_name , "[",Process_id,"]"]), self()},
io:fwrite(R),
friends(Msg, M_pid, State + 1, Self_name)
end
after
1000->
io:fwrite(lists:concat([Self_name," has received no calls for 1 second, ending..."]))
end
end.
master(State)->
receive
{Process_message, Process_id} ->
io:fwrite(Process_message),
master(State+1)
after
2000->
ok
end.
main() ->
B = [{john, [jill,joe,bob]},
{jill, [bob,joe,bob]},
{sue, [jill,jill,jill,bob,jill]},
{bob, [john]},
{joe, [sue]}],
create_process(B),
io:fwrite("~p~n",[whereis(sue)]),
master(0).
I think the line in friends() function,
M_pid!{lists:concat([Self_name," received intro message from ", Process_name , "[",Process_id,"]"]), self()}
is the cause of error but I cannot understand why. M_pid is known and I am concatenating all the info and sending it to master but I am confused why it isnt working.
The error I am getting is as follows:
Error in process <0.55.0> with exit value: {function_clause,[{lists,thing_to_list,
[<0.54.0>],
[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,603}]},
{lists,flatmap,2,[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,1250}]},
{lists,flatmap,2,[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,1250}]},
{prog,friends,4,[{file,"prog.erl"},{line,45}]}]}
I dont know what is causing the error. Sorry for asking noob questions and thanks for your help.

Answer 1

An example of what Dogbert discovered:
-module(my).
-compile(export_all).
go() ->
Pid = spawn(my, nothing, []),
lists:concat(["hello", Pid]).
nothing() -> nothing.
In the shell:
2> c(my).
my.erl:2: Warning: export_all flag enabled - all functions will be exported
{ok,my}
3> my:go().
** exception error: no function clause matching
lists:thing_to_list(<0.75.0>) (lists.erl, line 603)
in function lists:flatmap/2 (lists.erl, line 1250)
in call from lists:flatmap/2 (lists.erl, line 1250)
4>
But:
-module(my).
-compile(export_all).
go() ->
Pid = spawn(my, nothing, []),
lists:concat(["hello", pid_to_list(Pid)]).
nothing() -> nothing.
In the shell:
4> c(my).
my.erl:2: Warning: export_all flag enabled - all functions will be exported
{ok,my}
5> my:go().
"hello<0.83.0>"
From the erl docs:
concat(Things) -> string()
Things = [Thing]
Thing = atom() | integer() | float() | string()
The list that you feed concat() must contain either atoms, integers, floats, or strings. A pid is neither an atom, integer, float, nor string, so a pid cannot be used with concat(). However, pid_to_list() returns a string:
pid_to_list(Pid) -> string()
Pid = pid()
As you can see, a pid has its own type: pid().

Answer 2

I ran your code.
Where you went wrong was to pass Process_id(which is of type pid()) to lists:concat/1.
Let us try to understand this error:
{function_clause,[{lists,thing_to_list,
[<0.84.0>],
[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,603}]},
{lists,flatmap,2,[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,1250}]},
{lists,flatmap,2,[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,1250}]},
{prog,friends,4,[{file,"prog.erl"},{line,39}]}]}
It states the function lists:thing_to_list/1 has no definition(see the word function_clause in the error log) which accepts an argument of type pid() as denoted here by [<0.84.0>].
Strings are represented as lists in erlang, which is why we use lists:concat/1.
As #7stud pointed out these are the valid types which can be passed to lists:concat/1 as per the documentation:
atom() | integer() | float() | string()
There are 2 occurrences of the following line. Fix them and you are good to go:
Incorrect Code:
M_pid!{lists:concat([Self_name," received intro message from ", Process_name , "[",Process_id,"]"]), self()},
Corrected Code
M_pid!{lists:concat([Self_name," received intro message from ", Process_name , "[",pid_to_list(Process_id),"]"]), self()},
Notice the use of the function erlang:pid_to_list/1. As per the documentation the function accepts type pid() and returns it as string().