Universal datatype to binary representation #binary

datatypeToBinary.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <bitset>
#include <sstream>
#include <array>

using byte = unsigned char; //Char is the smallest possible datatype. hence the reason for using it
std::bitset<8> charToBits(byte b);
template<typename T> std::bitset<sizeof(T)*8> toBinary(const T& object);

template<typename T> std::bitset<sizeof(T)*8> toBinary(const T& object)
{
    //Convert T to byte array.
    std::array<byte, sizeof(T)> bytes; 

    const byte* begin = reinterpret_cast<const byte*>(std::addressof(object)); //start of array
    const byte* end = begin + sizeof(T); //end
    std::copy(begin, end, std::begin(bytes));

    std::bitset<sizeof(T)*8> bits;
    int pos = 0;
    
    //magic
    for(byte b : bytes)
    {
        std::bitset<8> temp = charToBits(b);
        for(int i=0;i <8; i++){
            bits.set(pos,temp[i]);
            pos++;
        }
    }

    return bits;
}

std::bitset<8> charToBits(byte b)
{
    return std::bitset<8>(b);
}

int main(int argv, char* argc)
{
    int x =10;
    std::stringstream buffer;
    buffer << toBinary(x).to_string();
    std::cout<<buffer.str()<<std::endl;

    return 1;
}