Ive written a sample addon, not so much a tutorial, that gives you the basics of what you need for frames / and slash command launch.
There are lua methods for Create / Destory Frame elements, but that is not an area i have done much exporation. As for clutter, i find the reduction of clutter with seperating command code from dispaly elements. I.E. .lua commands & arg. - .xml display elements.
My beta sample frame can be found here, its pretty self simple to see mechanics when you dive in the source. If you have questions concearning functions just send me a message.
http://www.wowinterface.com/download...85-Frames.html