docs: def _read_file(name, encoding='utf-8') -> str:
      """
      Read the contents of a file.
  
      :param name: The name of the file in the current directory.
      :param encoding: The encoding of the file; defaults to utf-8.
      :return: The contents of the file.
      """
      with open(name, encoding=encoding) as f:
          return f.read()