From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fre...ound_variables:

"In computer programming, a free variable is a variable referred to in a function that is not an argument of that function."

In other words, it is a variable whose value comes from the enclosing scope.
Kent Johnson | Homepage | 06/11/21 - 2:13 am | #

You might be interested in http://projects.amor.org/dejavu/...unk/ codewalk.py THe LambaDecompiler and EarlyBinder classes in particular should illuminate some of the uses of the co_* variables.
Robert Brewer | Homepage | 06/11/21 - 2:21 am | #

In Python, and in a given scope, a free variable is one that is defined in some outer scope and a cell variable is one that is referenced in some inner scope (i.e. is a free var for some inner scope).

In a more formal setting, globals would be free variables too.
Michael Hudson | Homepage | 06/11/21 - 12:10 pm | #