diff --git a/bot/classes/base_command.py b/bot/classes/base_command.py
index 710e6eb..f323345 100644
--- a/bot/classes/base_command.py
+++ b/bot/classes/base_command.py
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@ class BaseCommand(object):
     hooks = ["msg"]
 
     def __init__(self, connection):
+        """Constructor for new commands.
+        
+        This is called once when the command is loaded (from
+        commands._load_command()). `connection` is a Connection object,
+        allowing us to do self.connection.say(), self.connection.send(), etc,
+        from within a method.
+        """
         self.connection = connection
 
     def check(self, data):
@@ -34,8 +41,8 @@ class BaseCommand(object):
         """Main entry point for doing a command.
 
         Handle an activity (usually a message) on IRC. At this point, thanks
-        to self.check() which is called automatically by command_handler, we
-        know this is something we should respond to, so (usually) a
-        'if data.command != "command_name": return' is unnecessary.
+        to self.check() which is called automatically by the command handler,
+        we know this is something we should respond to, so (usually) something
+        like 'if data.command != "command_name": return' is unnecessary.
         """
         pass
diff --git a/bot/classes/base_task.py b/bot/classes/base_task.py
index e470178..278a77d 100644
--- a/bot/classes/base_task.py
+++ b/bot/classes/base_task.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class BaseTask(object):
         """Constructor for new tasks.
 
         This is called once immediately after the task class is loaded by
-        the task manager (in tasks._load_class_from_file()).
+        the task manager (in tasks._load_task()).
         """
         pass
 
diff --git a/bot/commands/__init__.py b/bot/commands/__init__.py
index c479490..7cb27be 100644
--- a/bot/commands/__init__.py
+++ b/bot/commands/__init__.py
@@ -8,53 +8,67 @@ In __init__, you can find some functions used to load and run these commands.
 """
 
 import os
+import sys
 import traceback
 
+from classes import BaseCommand
+import config
+
 __all__ = ["load", "get_all", "check"]
 
+# Base directory when searching for commands:
+base_dir = os.path.join(config.root_dir, "bot", "commands")
+
 # Store commands in a dict, where the key is the command's name and the value
 # is an instance of the command's class:
 _commands = {}
 
-def _load_class_from_file(connection, module):
-    """Add."""
-    global commands
-    objects = dir(module)
+def _load_command(connection, filename):
+    """Try to load a specific command from a module, identified by file name.
 
-    for this_obj in objects: # go through everything in the file
-        obj = eval("module.%s" % this_obj) # this_obj is a string, so get the actual object corresponding to that string
+    Given a Connection object and a filename, we'll first try to import it,
+    and if that works, make an instance of the 'Command' class inside (assuming
+    it is an instance of BaseCommand), add it to _commands, and report the
+    addition to the user. Any problems along the way will either be ignored or
+    reported.
+    """
+    global _commands
 
-        try:
-            bases = obj.__bases__
-        except AttributeError: # object isn't a valid class, so ignore it
-            continue
+    # Strip .py from the end of the filename and join with our package name:
+    name = ".".join(("commands", filename[:-3]))
+    try:
+         __import__(name)
+    except:
+        print "Couldn't load file {0}:".format(filename)
+        traceback.print_exc()
+        return
 
-        for base in bases:
-            if base.__name__ == "BaseCommand": # this inherits BaseCommand, so it must be a command class
-                command = obj(connection) # initialize a new command object
-                _commands.append(command)
-                print "Added command class %s from %s..." % (this_obj, module.__name__)
-                continue
+    command = sys.modules[name].Command(connection)
+    if not isinstance(command, BaseCommand):
+        return
+
+    _commands[command.name] = command
+    print "Added command {0}...".format(command.name)
 
 def load(connection):
-    """Load all valid commands into the _commands global variable."""
-    files = os.listdir(os.path.join("bot", "commands"))
+    """Load all valid commands into the _commands global variable.
+
+    `connection` is a Connection object that is given to each command's
+    constructor.
+    """
+    files = os.listdir(base_dir)
     files.sort()
 
-    for f in files:
-        if f.startswith("_") or not f.endswith(".py"): # ignore non-python files or files beginning with "_"
+    for filename in files:
+        if filename.startswith("_") or not filename.endswith(".py"):
             continue
-        module = f[:-3] # strip .py from end
         try:
-            exec "from irc.commands import %s" % module
-        except: # importing the file failed for some reason...
-            print "Couldn't load file %s:" % f
-            traceback.print_exc()
-            continue
-        process_module(connection, eval(module)) # 'module' is a string, so get the actual object for processing by eval-ing it
+            _load_command(connection, filename)
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass  # The file is doesn't contain a command, so just move on
 
-    pretty_cmnds = map(lambda c: c.__class__.__name__, commands)
-    print "Found %s command classes: %s." % (len(commands), ', '.join(pretty_cmnds))
+    msg = "Found {0} command classes: {1}."
+    print msg.format(len(_commands), ", ".join(_commands.keys()))
 
 def get_all():
     """Return our dict of all loaded commands."""
@@ -62,15 +76,15 @@ def get_all():
 
 def check(hook, data):
     """Given an event on IRC, check if there's anything we can respond to."""
-    # parse command arguments into data.command and data.args
+    # Parse command arguments into data.command and data.args:
     data.parse_args()
 
-    for command in _commands:
-        if hook in command.get_hooks():
+    for command in _commands.values():
+        if hook in command.hooks:
             if command.check(data):
                 try:
                     command.process(data)
                 except:
-                    print "Error executing command '{}':".format(data.command)
-                    traceback.print_exc() # catch exceptions and print them
+                    print "Error executing command '{0}':".format(data.command)
+                    traceback.print_exc()
                 break
diff --git a/bot/commands/help.py b/bot/commands/help.py
index dc98f16..6f57381 100644
--- a/bot/commands/help.py
+++ b/bot/commands/help.py
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@ from classes import BaseCommand, Data
 import commands
 
 class Command(BaseCommand):
-    """Generates help information."""
+    """Displays help information."""
     name = "help"
 
     def process(self, data):
-        self.cmnds = commands.get_all().keys()
+        self.cmnds = commands.get_all()
         if not data.args:
             self.do_main_help(data)
         else:
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
     def do_main_help(self, data):
         """Give the user a general help message with a list of all commands."""
         msg = "I am a bot! I have {0} commands loaded: {1}. You can get help for any command with '!help <command>'."
-        msg.format(len(self.cmnds), ', '.join(self.cmnds))
+        msg = msg.format(len(self.cmnds.keys()), ', '.join(self.cmnds))
         self.connection.reply(data, msg)
 
     def do_command_help(self, data):
@@ -26,17 +26,16 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         # Create a dummy message to test which commands pick up the user's
         # input:
-        dummy = Data()
+        dummy = Data(1)
         dummy.command = command.lower()
         dummy.is_command = True
 
-        for cmnd in self.cmnds:
+        for cmnd in self.cmnds.values():
             if cmnd.check(dummy):
                 doc = cmnd.__doc__
                 if doc:
                     msg = "info for command \x0303{0}\x0301: \"{1}\""
-                    msg.format(command, doc)
-                    self.connection.reply(data, msg)
+                    self.connection.reply(data, msg.format(command, doc))
                     return
                 break
 
diff --git a/bot/tasks/__init__.py b/bot/tasks/__init__.py
index 98ae925..9d03547 100644
--- a/bot/tasks/__init__.py
+++ b/bot/tasks/__init__.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ __all__ = ["load", "schedule", "start"]
 # an instance of the task class:
 _tasks = {}
 
-def _load_class_from_file(f):
+def _load_task(f):
     """Look in a given file for the task class."""
     global _tasks