[Tutor] What exactly is "state"?

[Sydney Shall]

I am a beginner and I am now at the strage of learning to write unittests.
I have followed the current discussion entitled "How to test a class in 
pyhton", and I am not clear precisely what is meant by state. In its 
common meaning I can see some relevance. But is there a technical aspect 
to the notion. I see it mentioned often and feel rather uncomfortable 
that I know so little about it.
I have deliberately started a new thread.
Thanks.
-- 
Sydney