help understanding dean edwards addevent javascript

Question

I need help understanding this piece of code. What is the point of handler.guid? Why is there a need for a hash table???

What is the point of if ( element["on" + type]){ handlers[0] = element["on" + type]; }

What doe sthe "this" refer to in handleEvent? The elemnt? or the the addEvent function.

    function addEvent(element, type, handler) {
  // assign each event handler a unique ID
  if (!handler.$$guid) handler.$$guid = addEvent.guid++;
  // create a hash table of event types for the element
  if (!element.events) element.events = {};
  // create a hash table of event handlers for each element/event pair
  var handlers = element.events[type];
  if (!handlers) {
    handlers = element.events[type] = {};
    // store the existing event handler (if there is one)
    if (element["on" + type]) {
      handlers[0] = element["on" + type];
    }
  }
  // store the event handler in the hash table
  handlers[handler.$$guid] = handler;
  // assign a global event handler to do all the work
  element["on" + type] = handleEvent;
};
// a counter used to create unique IDs
addEvent.guid = 1;

function removeEvent(element, type, handler) {
  // delete the event handler from the hash table
  if (element.events && element.events[type]) {
    delete element.events[type][handler.$$guid];
  }
};

function handleEvent(event) {
  // grab the event object (IE uses a global event object)
  event = event || window.event;
  // get a reference to the hash table of event handlers
  var handlers = this.events[event.type];
  // execute each event handler
  for (var i in handlers) {
    this.$$handleEvent = handlers[i];
    this.$$handleEvent(event);
  }
};