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 voltage(title, pos, voltage, ax=0):
    """plot voltage vs. position"""
    if ax == 0:
        ax = plt.gca()
    ax.set_title('{} / V'.format(title))
    ax.grid(True)
    ax.plot(pos, voltage)