diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1e4f2bb7d..9d5a3e2db 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2012-01-02 22:26-EST Gregory John Casamento <greg.casamento@gmail.com>
+
+	* Headers/Foundation/NSXMLElement.h: Change _attributes to be
+	a NSMutableDictionary instead of an NSMutableArray.
+	* Source/NSXMLElement.m: Change implementation of some methods
+	to use an NSMutableDictionary instead of arrays.  Initialize
+	ivars in initializer.
+	* Source/NSXMLPrivate.h: Remove redundant method.
+
 2012-01-02  Fred Kiefer <FredKiefer@gmx.de>
 
 	* Source/GSSocketStream.m (-initWithInput:output:): Attempt to
diff --git a/Headers/Foundation/NSXMLElement.h b/Headers/Foundation/NSXMLElement.h
index 32ea3c4b2..5cec2ecf6 100644
--- a/Headers/Foundation/NSXMLElement.h
+++ b/Headers/Foundation/NSXMLElement.h
@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-
-@class NSDictionary, NSEnumerator, NSMutableArray;
+@class NSDictionary, NSEnumerator, NSMutableArray, NSMutableDictionary;
 
 /**
  * Represents an XML element.<br />
@@ -42,14 +41,12 @@ extern "C" {
 {
 #if	GS_EXPOSE(NSXMLElement)
 @protected
-  // NSString              *_name;
-  NSMutableArray        *_attributes;
+  NSMutableDictionary   *_attributes;
   NSMutableArray        *_namespaces;
   NSMutableArray        *_children;
   BOOL                   _childrenHaveMutated;
   NSString              *_URI;	
   NSInteger             _prefixIndex;
-  NSString              *_value;
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/Source/NSXMLElement.m b/Source/NSXMLElement.m
index 1f9d4113c..973f07325 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLElement.m
+++ b/Source/NSXMLElement.m
@@ -48,13 +48,20 @@
   if ((self = [super initWithKind:NSXMLElementKind]) != nil)
     {
       ASSIGN(_name, name);
+      _attributes = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithCapacity: 10];
+      _namespaces = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: 10];
+      _children = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: 10];
+      _URI = nil;
     }
   return self;
 }
 
 - (id) initWithName: (NSString*)name stringValue: (NSString*)string
 {
-  [self notImplemented: _cmd];
+  if([self initWithName: name URI: nil] != nil)
+    {
+      [self setObjectValue: string];
+    }
   return nil;
 }
 
@@ -78,24 +85,13 @@
 
 - (void) addAttribute: (NSXMLNode*)attribute
 {
-  [_attributes addObject: attribute];
+  [_attributes setObject: attribute
+		  forKey: [attribute name]];
 }
 
 - (void) removeAttributeForName: (NSString*)name
 {
-  NSEnumerator *en = [_attributes objectEnumerator];
-  NSXMLNode *node = nil;
-  int index = 0;
-
-  while ((node = [en nextObject]) != nil)
-    {
-      NSString *nodeName = [node name];
-      if ([nodeName isEqualToString: name])
-	{
-	  [_attributes removeObjectAtIndex: index];
-	}
-      index++;
-    }
+  [_attributes removeObjectForKey: name];
 }
 
 - (void) setAttributes: (NSArray*)attributes
@@ -111,35 +107,17 @@
 
 - (void) setAttributesAsDictionary: (NSDictionary*)attributes
 {
-  NSEnumerator *ken = [attributes keyEnumerator];
-  id key = nil;
-  while ((key = [ken nextObject]) != nil)
-    {
-      id value = [attributes objectForKey: key];
-      NSXMLNode *node = [NSXMLNode attributeWithName: key
-					 stringValue: value];
-      [self addAttribute: node];
-    }
+  ASSIGN(_attributes, [attributes mutableCopy]);
 }
 
 - (NSArray*) attributes
 {
-  return _attributes;
+  return [_attributes allValues];
 }
 
 - (NSXMLNode*) attributeForName: (NSString*)name
 {
-  NSEnumerator	*enumerator = [[self attributes] objectEnumerator];
-  NSXMLNode	*attribute;
-
-  while ((attribute = [enumerator nextObject]) != nil)
-    {
-      if ([name isEqualToString: [attribute name]] == YES)
-	{
-	  return attribute;
-	}
-    }
-  return nil;
+  return [_attributes objectForKey: name];
 }
 
 - (NSXMLNode*) attributeForLocalName: (NSString*)localName
diff --git a/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h b/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
index b53249711..be78b6081 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
+++ b/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
@@ -76,6 +76,5 @@
 #endif
 
 @interface NSXMLNode (Private)
-- (void) setName: (NSString *)name;
 - (void) setParent: (NSXMLNode *)node;
 @end