my $self = bless deep_copy( \%default_values ), $class;

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $count = 0;

my %default_values = (
    SUBJECT  => 'Subject (<= 44 characters) goes here',
    AUTHOR   => {
        NAME         => 'A. U. Thor',
        CPANID       => 'AUTHOR',
        WEBSITE      => 'http://a.galaxy.far.far.away/modules',
        EMAIL        => 'a.u.thor@a.galaxy.far.far.away',
    },
);

compare( { %default_values }, 
  {
    'NAME'     => 'ABC::Alpha',
    'AUTHOR'   => { 
                    NAME   => 'James E Keenan',
                    EMAIL  => 'jkeenancpan.org',
    },
  }
);

compare( { %default_values }, 
  {
    'NAME'     => 'ABC::Alpha',
    'AUTHOR'   => { 
                    NAME   => 'James E Keenan',
                    CPANID => 'JKEENAN',
    },
  }
);

print "\nFinished\n";

sub compare {
    print "\nStart TEST ", ++$count, "----------\n\n";
    my ($dvref, $paramsref) = @_;
    print Dumper ($dvref, $paramsref);
    my %dv = %{ $dvref };
    my %parameters = %$paramsref; 
    foreach my $param ( keys %parameters ) {
        if ( ref( $parameters{$param} ) eq 'HASH' ) {
            foreach ( keys( %{ $parameters{$param} } ) ) {
                $dv{$param}{$_} = $parameters{$param}{$_};
            }
        }
        else {
            $dv{$param} = $parameters{$param};
        }
    }
    print Dumper (\%dv);
}

##</code><code>##

compare( default_values(), 
  {
    'NAME'     => 'ABC::Alpha',
    'AUTHOR'   => { 
                    NAME   => 'James E Keenan',
                    EMAIL  => 'jkeenancpan.org',
    },
  }
);

compare( default_values(), 
  {
    'NAME'     => 'ABC::Alpha',
    'AUTHOR'   => { 
                    NAME   => 'James E Keenan',
                    CPANID => 'JKEENAN',
    },
  }
);

sub default_values {
    my %default_values = (
            SUBJECT  => 'Subject (<= 44 characters) goes here',
            AUTHOR   => {
                NAME         => 'A. U. Thor',
                CPANID       => 'AUTHOR',
                WEBSITE      => 'http://a.galaxy.far.far.away/modules',
                EMAIL        => 'a.u.thor@a.galaxy.far.far.away',
            },
    );
    return { %default_values };
}
}

##</code><code>##

    my $self = ref($class) ? bless( default_values(), ref($class) )
                           : bless( default_values(), $class );