In this chapter, we looked at several advanced software topics. We began by looking at programming the BeagleBone like a desktop system using the C and Linux APIs. You learned that the BeagleBone shares many things with a desktop Linux system and can reuse most libraries and software developed on the desktop. However, leveraging desktop-developed software may have some potential issues on the BeagleBone. Despite the potential issues, a desktop can prototype applications with a few caveats.

We then looked at software compilation for the BeagleBone. Next, we looked at the native compilation on the BeagleBone, which works just like a desktop. However, this process can be slower compared to a desktop. We also looked at the concept of cross compiling where we compiled software for the BeagleBone on the desktop. Cross compiling is faster but there can be complications.

As an example of building software, we built a C version of Hello, World for the BeagleBone in two ways. First, we natively...