I'm confused, what's wrong with this?

my $e = Example::Module();
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my $e = Example::Module();
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That would be the same as:

my $e = "Example::Module";
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So no, it doesn't work. I thought about it for a while... and I can't figure out a way around that corner case that doesn't break other class methods. Oh well... gotta say "new" sometime, I guess.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

There is one way that you can overcome it. It's pretty bad, though. :/

#!/usr/bin/perl -l

package Example::Module;

use overload '""' => sub { ref shift };

sub new {
    bless [ $_[1] || "default" ], shift;
}

sub Example::Module {
    return Example::Module::->new(@_);
}

sub print_it {
    print $_[0]->[0];
}

package main;

$a = Example::Module();
$a->print_it;

$b = Example::Module("b");
$b->print_it;
__END__
default
b
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Yeah. Not very pretty, I know. Also, it breaks if no parameters is an illegal option (i.e. your constructor returns undef or dies). This would come into play for calls such as Example::Module->print_it. Of course in that case you may as well just return "Example::Module" as the original code had.

antirice    
The first rule of Perl club is - use Perl
The ith rule of Perl club is - follow rule i - 1 for i > 1