diff --git a/src/counts.jl b/src/counts.jl
index 5ceec9a72da3ee..d292bf1bedfea3 100644
--- a/src/counts.jl
+++ b/src/counts.jl
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ proportions(x::IntegerArray, y::IntegerArray, k::Integer, wv::WeightVec) = propo
 ## auxiliary functions
 
 function _normalize_countmap{T}(cm::Dict{T}, s::Real)
-	r = (T=>Float64)[]
+	r = Dict{T,Float64}[]
 	for (k, c) in cm
 		r[k] = c / s 
 	end
@@ -189,8 +189,8 @@ function addcounts!{T,W}(cm::Dict{T}, x::AbstractArray{T}, wv::WeightVec{W})
 	return cm
 end
 
-countmap{T}(x::AbstractArray{T}) = addcounts!((T=>Int)[], x)
-countmap{T,W}(x::AbstractArray{T}, wv::WeightVec{W}) = addcounts!((T=>W)[], x, wv)
+countmap{T}(x::AbstractArray{T}) = addcounts!(Dict{T,Int}[], x)
+countmap{T,W}(x::AbstractArray{T}, wv::WeightVec{W}) = addcounts!(Dict{T,W}[], x, wv)
 
 proportionmap(x::AbstractArray) = _normalize_countmap(countmap(x), length(x))
 proportionmap(x::AbstractArray, wv::WeightVec) = _normalize_countmap(countmap(x, wv), sum(wv))
diff --git a/src/misc.jl b/src/misc.jl
index 882c61d2037433..8c9a16252c915a 100644
--- a/src/misc.jl
+++ b/src/misc.jl
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ end
 # findat (get positions (within a) for elements in b)
 
 function indexmap{T}(a::AbstractArray{T})
-    d = (T=>Int)[]
+    d = Dict{T,Int}[]
     for i = 1 : length(a)
         @inbounds k = a[i]
         if !haskey(d, k)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ function indexmap{T}(a::AbstractArray{T})
 end
 
 function levelsmap{T}(a::AbstractArray{T})
-    d = (T=>Int)[]
+    d = Dict{T,Int}[]
     index = 1
     for i = 1 : length(a)
         @inbounds k = a[i]
diff --git a/src/scalarstats.jl b/src/scalarstats.jl
index 1ec0b92e813469..589aa2ec495d95 100644
--- a/src/scalarstats.jl
+++ b/src/scalarstats.jl
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ end
 # compute mode over arbitrary array
 function mode{T}(a::AbstractArray{T})
     isempty(a) && error("mode: input array cannot be empty.")
-    cnts = (T=>Int)[]
+    cnts = Dict{T,Int}[]
     # first element
     mc = 1
     mv = a[1]
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ end
 
 function modes{T}(a::AbstractArray{T})
     isempty(a) && error("modes: input array cannot be empty.")
-    cnts = (T=>Int)[]
+    cnts = Dict{T,Int}[]
     # first element
     mc = 1
     cnts[a[1]] = 1