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 update(self, *args, **kwargs):
        chain = []
        for arg in args:
            if isinstance(arg, dict):
                iterator = arg.items()
            else:
                iterator = arg
            chain = itertools.chain(chain, iterator)
        if kwargs:
            chain = itertools.chain(chain, kwargs.items())
        for key, value in iterator:
            self._collection[key] = self._from_python(key, value)