diff --git a/wp-includes/category-template.php b/wp-includes/category-template.php
index 8432048f27..73889ebd22 100644
--- a/wp-includes/category-template.php
+++ b/wp-includes/category-template.php
@@ -309,6 +309,90 @@ function wp_list_categories($args = '') {
 	echo apply_filters('wp_list_categories', $output);
 }
 
+function wp_tag_cloud( $args = '' ) {
+	$defaults = array(
+		'smallest' => 8, 'largest' => 22, 'unit' => 'pt', 'number' => 45, 
+		'format' => 'flat', 'orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC',
+		'exclude' => '', 'include' => ''
+	);
+	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
+
+	$tags = get_tags( array_merge($args, array('orderby' => 'count', 'order' => 'DESC')) ); // Always query top tags
+
+	if ( empty($tags) )
+		return;
+
+	$return = wp_generate_tag_cloud( $tags, $args ); // Here's where those top tags get sorted according to $args
+	echo apply_filters( 'wp_tag_cloud', $return, $args );
+}
+
+// $tags = prefetched tag array ( get_tags() )
+// $args['format'] = 'flat' => whitespace separated, 'list' => UL, 'array' => array()
+// $args['orderby'] = 'name', 'count'
+function wp_generate_tag_cloud( $tags, $args = '' ) {
+	global $wp_rewrite;
+	$defaults = array(
+		'smallest' => 8, 'largest' => 22, 'unit' => 'pt', 'number' => 45,
+		'format' => 'flat', 'orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC'
+	);
+	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
+	extract($args);
+
+	if ( !$tags )
+		return;
+	$counts = $tag_links = array();
+	foreach ( (array) $tags as $tag ) {
+		$counts[$tag->cat_name] = $tag->tag_count;
+		$tag_links[$tag->cat_name] = get_tag_link( $tag->cat_ID );
+	}
+
+	$min_count = min($counts);
+	$spread = max($counts) - $min_count;
+	if ( $spread <= 0 )
+		$spread = 1;
+	$font_spread = $largest - $smallest;
+	if ( $font_spread <= 0 )
+		$font_spread = 1;
+	$font_step = $font_spread / $spread;
+
+	// SQL cannot save you; this is a second (potentially different) sort on a subset of data.
+	if ( 'name' == $orderby )
+		uksort($counts, 'strnatcasecmp');
+	else
+		asort($counts);
+
+	if ( 'DESC' == $order )
+		$counts = array_reverse( $tag_counts, true );
+
+	$a = array();
+
+	$rel = ( is_object($wp_rewrite) && $wp_rewrite->using_permalinks() ) ? ' rel="tag"' : '';
+
+	foreach ( $counts as $tag => $count ) {
+		$tag_link = clean_url($tag_links[$tag]);
+		$tag = str_replace(' ', '&nbsp;', wp_specialchars( $tag ));
+		$a[] = "<a href='$tag_link' title='" . attribute_escape( sprintf( __('%d topics'), $count ) ) . "'$rel style='font-size: " .
+			( $smallest + ( ( $count - $min_count ) * $font_step ) )
+			. "$unit;'>$tag</a>";
+	}
+
+	switch ( $format ) :
+	case 'array' :
+		$return =& $a;
+		break;
+	case 'list' :
+		$return = "<ul class='wp-tag-cloud'>\n\t<li>";
+		$return .= join("</li>\n\t<li>", $a);
+		$return .= "</li>\n</ul>\n";
+		break;
+	default :
+		$return = join("\n", $a);
+		break;
+	endswitch;
+
+	return apply_filters( 'wp_generate_tag_cloud', $return, $tags, $args );
+}
+
 //
 // Helper functions
 //
diff --git a/wp-includes/category.php b/wp-includes/category.php
index 713376f678..7de7c81dd8 100644
--- a/wp-includes/category.php
+++ b/wp-includes/category.php
@@ -350,26 +350,21 @@ function _get_category_hierarchy() {
 function &get_tags($args = '') {
 	global $wpdb, $category_links;
 
-	if ( is_array($args) )
-		$r = &$args;
-	else
-		parse_str($args, $r);
-
 	$defaults = array('orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC',
 		'hide_empty' => true, 'exclude' => '', 'include' => '',
 		'number' => '');
-	$r = array_merge($defaults, $r);
-	if ( 'count' == $r['orderby'] )
-		$r['orderby'] = 'category_count';
+	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
+	if ( 'count' == $args['orderby'] )
+		$args['orderby'] = 'tag_count';
 	else
-		$r['orderby'] = "cat_" . $r['orderby'];  // restricts order by to cat_ID and cat_name fields
-	$r['number'] = (int) $r['number'];
-	extract($r);
+		$args['orderby'] = "cat_" . $args['orderby'];  // restricts order by to cat_ID and cat_name fields
+	$args['number'] = (int) $args['number'];
+	extract($args);
 
-	$key = md5( serialize( $r ) );
+	$key = md5( serialize( $args ) );
 	if ( $cache = wp_cache_get( 'get_tags', 'category' ) )
 		if ( isset( $cache[ $key ] ) )
-			return apply_filters('get_tags', $cache[$key], $r);
+			return apply_filters('get_tags', $cache[$key], $args);
 
 	$where = 'cat_ID > 0';
 	$inclusions = '';
@@ -406,7 +401,7 @@ function &get_tags($args = '') {
 
 	if (!empty($exclusions))
 		$exclusions .= ')';
-	$exclusions = apply_filters('list_tags_exclusions', $exclusions, $r );
+	$exclusions = apply_filters('list_tags_exclusions', $exclusions, $args );
 	$where .= $exclusions;
 
 	if ( $hide_empty )
@@ -427,7 +422,7 @@ function &get_tags($args = '') {
 	$cache[ $key ] = $tags;
 	wp_cache_set( 'get_tags', $cache, 'category' );
 
-	$tags = apply_filters('get_tags', $tags, $r);
+	$tags = apply_filters('get_tags', $tags, $args);
 	return $tags;
 }
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index ffa7fe3861..08ccdce3b9 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -1471,4 +1471,22 @@ function smilies_init() {
 	}
 }
 
+function wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults = '' ) {
+	if ( is_array($args) ) :
+		$r =& $args;
+	else :
+		parse_str( $args, $r );
+		if ( get_magic_quotes_gpc() )
+			$r = stripslashes_deep( $r );
+	endif;
+
+	if ( is_array($defaults) ) :
+		extract($defaults);
+		extract($r);
+		return compact(array_keys($defaults)); // only those options defined in $defaults
+	else :
+		return $r;
+	endif;
+}
+
 ?>