You can compile simple programs very similarly to how you normally use gcc/g++. Source the OE SDK, then call CC or CXX. The environment script exports these variables the way you would expect if you're familiar with cross compiling at all. You *could* just call arm-oe-linue-gnueabi, but you probably shouldn't.
For simple applications it's not too bad. Beyond a toy program or two you'll really want to start using cmake. It's also important to note that when you run a command line like that yourself you're probably missing out on a bunch of optimizations and options that you otherwise take for granted.