diff --git a/Basic/Ops/ops.pd b/Basic/Ops/ops.pd
index e25d2d8ce..b7da73749 100644
--- a/Basic/Ops/ops.pd
+++ b/Basic/Ops/ops.pd
@@ -440,25 +440,17 @@ pp_export_nothing();
 ufunc('log10','log10',0,'the base 10 logarithm', GenericTypes => $A,
       Exception => '$a() <= 0',
       NoTgmath => 1, # glibc for at least GCC 8.3.0 won't tgmath log10 though 7.1.0 did
-      PMCode =>
-'
+      PMCode => <<'EOF',
 sub PDL::log10 {
-    my $x = shift;
-    if ( ! UNIVERSAL::isa($x,"PDL") ) { return log($x) / log(10); }
-    my $y;
-    if ( $x->is_inplace ) { $x->set_inplace(0); $y = $x; }
-    elsif( ref($x) eq "PDL"){
-    	#PDL Objects, use nullcreate:
-	$y = PDL->nullcreate($x);
-    }else{
-    	#PDL-Derived Object, use copy: (Consistent with
-	#  Auto-creation docs in Objects.pod)
-	$y = $x->copy;
-    }
+    my ($x, $y) = @_;
+    return log($x) / log(10) if !UNIVERSAL::isa($x,"PDL");
+    barf "inplace but output given" if $x->is_inplace and defined $y;
+    if ($x->is_inplace) { $x->set_inplace(0); $y = $x; }
+    elsif (!defined $y) { $y = $x->initialize; }
     &PDL::_log10_int( $x, $y );
-    return $y;
+    $y;
 };
-'
+EOF
 );
 
 pp_def(
diff --git a/t/ops.t b/t/ops.t
index 0ae20f28c..b0ab47fec 100644
--- a/t/ops.t
+++ b/t/ops.t
@@ -207,13 +207,14 @@ my $pb = log(pdl(110,23)) / log(10);
 note "a: $pa\n";
 note "b: $pb\n";
 ok(all( approx( $pa, $pb)), 'log10 pdl');
+log10(pdl(110,23), my $pc=null);
+ok(all( approx( $pc, $pb)), '2-arg log10 pdl');
 # check inplace
 ok(all( approx( pdl(110,23)->inplace->log10(), $pb)), 'inplace pdl log10');
 if ($can_complex_power) {
   ok(all( approx( cdouble(110,23)->inplace->log()/log(10), $pb)), 'complex inplace pdl log10');
 }
 }
-
 }
 
 {
diff --git a/t/subclass.t b/t/subclass.t
index 44ad96d74..747b2f3ce 100644
--- a/t/subclass.t
+++ b/t/subclass.t
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ sub new {
 sub initialize {
   my ($class) = @_;
   my $self = $class->SUPER::initialize;
-  $self->{someThingElse} = 42,
+  # copy the other stuff:
+  $self->{someThingElse} = ref $class ? $class->{someThingElse} : 42;
   $self;
 }
 ###### Derived3 Object Needs to supply its own copy #####
@@ -92,8 +93,6 @@ sub copy {
   my $self = shift;
   my $new = $self->initialize;
   $new->{PDL} = $self->{PDL}->SUPER::copy;
-  # copy the other stuff:
-  $new->{someThingElse} = $self->{someThingElse};
   $new;
 }
 }
@@ -173,7 +172,8 @@ sub initialize {
   $::INIT_CALLED = 1;
   my $class = shift;
   my $self = $class->SUPER::initialize;
-  $self->{someThingElse} = 42,
+  # copy the other stuff:
+  $self->{someThingElse} = ref $class ? $class->{someThingElse} : 42;
   $self;
 }
 
@@ -183,8 +183,6 @@ sub copy {
   my $self = shift;
   my $new = $self->initialize;
   $new->{PDL} = $self->{PDL}->SUPER::copy;
-  # copy the other stuff:
-  $new->{someThingElse} = $self->{someThingElse};
   return $new;
 }