def getVariable(dbg, thread_id, frame_id, scope, attrs):
    """
    returns the value of a variable

    :scope: can be BY_ID, EXPRESSION, GLOBAL, LOCAL, FRAME

    BY_ID means we'll traverse the list of all objects alive to get the object.

    :attrs: after reaching the proper scope, we have to get the attributes until we find
            the proper location (i.e.: obj\tattr1\tattr2)

    :note: when BY_ID is used, the frame_id is considered the id of the object to find and
           not the frame (as we don't care about the frame in this case).
    """
    if scope == 'BY_ID':
        if thread_id != get_current_thread_id(threading.currentThread()):
            raise VariableError("getVariable: must execute on same thread")

        try:
            import gc
            objects = gc.get_objects()
        except:
            pass  # Not all python variants have it.
        else:
            frame_id = int(frame_id)
            for var in objects:
                if id(var) == frame_id:
                    if attrs is not None:
                        attrList = attrs.split('\t')
                        for k in attrList:
                            _type, _typeName, resolver = get_type(var)
                            var = resolver.resolve(var, k)

                    return var

        # If it didn't return previously, we coudn't find it by id (i.e.: alrceady garbage collected).
        sys.stderr.write('Unable to find object with id: %s\n' % (frame_id,))
        return None

    frame = dbg.find_frame(thread_id, frame_id)
    if frame is None:
        return {}

    if attrs is not None:
        attrList = attrs.split('\t')
    else:
        attrList = []

    for attr in attrList:
        attr.replace("@_@TAB_CHAR@_@", '\t')

    if scope == 'EXPRESSION':
        for count in xrange(len(attrList)):
            if count == 0:
                # An Expression can be in any scope (globals/locals), therefore it needs to evaluated as an expression
                var = evaluate_expression(dbg, frame, attrList[count], False)
            else:
                _type, _typeName, resolver = get_type(var)
                var = resolver.resolve(var, attrList[count])
    else:
        if scope == "GLOBAL":
            var = frame.f_globals
            del attrList[0]  # globals are special, and they get a single dummy unused attribute
        else:
            # in a frame access both locals and globals as Python does
            var = {}
            var.update(frame.f_globals)
            var.update(frame.f_locals)

        for k in attrList:
            _type, _typeName, resolver = get_type(var)
            var = resolver.resolve(var, k)

    return var
returns the value of a variable

    :scope: can be BY_ID, EXPRESSION, GLOBAL, LOCAL, FRAME

    BY_ID means we'll traverse the list of all objects alive to get the object.

    :attrs: after reaching the proper scope, we have to get the attributes until we find
            the proper location (i.e.: obj\tattr1\tattr2)

    :note: when BY_ID is used, the frame_id is considered the id of the object to find and
           not the frame (as we don't care about the frame in this case).