ssh programming?

[Allan McIntosh]

Hey,

        I was looking for some documentation on writing a very small ssh 
api. Very few, simple methods.

 
I would like to:

 1.  Connect to an ssh server
 2.  Log in as a user
 3.  Execute commands:
       - send commands.
       - retreive command output.
 4.  Logout.


IE:

  connect();
  login();
  send();
  receive();
  disconnect(); 
  
I am assuming the underlying code will not be as simple as the above may 
imply. 

Can any one point me in the right direction? Or tell me if anything like 
this exists (fingers crossed)?

I also wonder how much of the openssh packages deals with key and
session management?