sub new { my ($class, @args) = @_; my $this; unless (defined @args) { $this = $class->SUPER::new(); # call zero-arg ctor return bless($this, $class); # rebless to our class } else { # do argument checking to figure out what ought to go # to the superclass ctor and what needs to be initialized here. $this = $class->SUPER::new(@some_args); # then initialize the parts of the object that are unique to this class return bless($this, $class); # rebless to our class }