* Questions

** Why does Opening and Reading the file is done in 2 steps? What's the difference?
in_file = open(from_file)
indata = in_file.read()

"Opening" a file doesn't actually bring any of the data from the file into your program. It just prepares the file for reading (or writing), so when your program is ready to read the contents of the file it can do so right away.
*** Source:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20308998/what-is-the-difference-between-opening-and-reading-a-file-in-python

** What does 'w' mean? (from ex14)
target = open(filename, 'w')

It's a string with a character in it for the kind of mode for the file.

'w' = write
'r' = read
'a' = append



* Note 

" character messes up the copy in org or emacs