% $Id: GridComp_usage.tex,v 1.13 2011/01/05 20:05:47 svasquez Exp $
%
% Earth System Modeling Framework
% Copyright 2002-2011, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 
% Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics 
% Laboratory, University of Michigan, National Centers for Environmental 
% Prediction, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, 
% NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
% Licensed under the University of Illinois-NCSA License.

%\subsection{Use and Examples}

A Gridded Component is a computational entity which consumes and produces data. It uses a State object to exchange data between itself and other Components. It uses a Clock object to manage time, and a VM to describe its own and its child components' computational resources.

This section shows how to create Gridded Components.  For demonstrations
of the use of Gridded Components, see the system tests that are bundled with the ESMF software
distribution.  These can be found in the directory {\tt esmf/src/system\_tests}.



