code: def expand_and_merge_variables(objs, priority_arg=None):
      
      expanded = expand_variable_dicts(objs)
      priority_vars = _get_priority_vars(objs, priority_arg)
      variables = merge_variables(expanded, priority_vars)
      return variables
docs: Merge coordinate variables without worrying about alignment.
  
      This function is used for merging variables in computation.py.