def read(*parts):
    """
    Build an absolute path from *parts* and and return the contents of the
    resulting file.  Assume UTF-8 encoding.
    """
    with codecs.open(os.path.join(HERE, *parts), "rb", "utf-8") as f:
        return f.read()
def days_till_due(self):
        """
        Returns the number of days till the due date. Returns a negative number
        of days when the due date is in the past.
        Returns 0 when the task has no due date.
        """
        due = self.due_date()
        if due:
            diff = due - date.today()
            return diff.days
        return 0