[Libreoffice] Getting started with Java development for LO

Hi all,

I tried to make myself familiar with the java portions of LO but got 
stuck and confused. Can someone give me pointers on some topics?

1) I understood on this mailing-lists archive that it is intended to 
have any Java portions replaced with something else to get rid of JRE 
dependencies. I guess that an optional Java-API for writing extensions 
to LO is not effected by this and should be maintained. Is this correct?

2) ATM this Java API is an UNO implementation from the OOo UDK project, 
right? From my first Impression this API is ... I fail to get the design 
decisions driving it. :-) I took a look at the OOo website to see 
whether there are efforts to improve the API. The page 
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Uno/Efforts was changed last 
time in December '06, I basically stopped there. Are there any existing 
plans anywhere to come up with a decent, modern Java API to LO?

I would like to get involved in Java development for LO but want to 
avoid scratching my head over obsolete code.

Thanks and regards
Thorsten Guenther