*args and **kwargs

[Dan]

I am still pretty new on Python and have been working with it for 5 months.
I ran across some source code that has these constructs.  They look like C
pointers but most likely aren't.  I can't find explanations to them in
reference books but have only seen them on function declarations in the
sources.  Can anyone give a brief explanation or provide a pointer link to
an explanation?

appreciate it much,
dan