import pickle
import os


def write_to_file(data, filename):
    with open(filename, 'wb') as file:
        pickle.dump(data, file)


def read_from_file(filename):
    if not os.path.exists(filename):
        open(filename, 'w').close()  # Create a blank file if it doesn't exist
        return []
    with open(filename, 'rb') as file:
        try:
            data = pickle.load(file)
        except:
            print("An exception occurred")
            return []
    return data