docs: def _normalize_path(self, path):
          """
          Takes a path and returns a simple absolute path as a list of directories from the root
          """
          if type(path) is str:
              path = path.encode()
          path = path.split(b'\0')[0]
  
          if path[0:1] != self.pathsep:
              path = self.cwd + self.pathsep + path
          keys = path.split(self.pathsep)
          i = 0
          while i < len(keys):
              if keys[i] == b'':
                  keys.pop(i)
              elif keys[i] == b'.':
                  keys.pop(i)
              elif keys[i] == b'..':
                  keys.pop(i)
                  if i != 0:
                      keys.pop(i-1)
                      i -= 1
              else:
                  i += 1
          return keys