package Example::ErrorList; sub list_item_class { 'Example::Error' } sub new { my ($class) = @_; my $item_class = $class->list_item_class; my $self = bless {}, $class; $self->{items} = [ map { $item_class->new($_) } @seed_list_or_something ]; return $self; } package Example::Error; sub as_string { die "as_string should be implemented by subclass"; } sub asplode { my ($self) = @_; die "BANG! ".$self->as_string; } package My::AwesomeErrorList; use base 'Example::ErrorList'; sub list_item_class { 'My::AwesomeError' } package My::AwesomeError; use base 'Example::Error'; sub as_string { # Actually implement it }