Convert an integer to binary without using the built-in bin function

Question

This function receives as a parameter an integer and should return a list representing the same value expressed in binary as a list of bits, where the first element in the l

Answer 1

Not the pythonic way...but still works:

def get_binary_list_from_decimal(integer, bits):
    '''Return a list of 0's and 1's representing a decimal type integer.

    Keyword arguments:
    integer -- decimal type number.
    bits -- number of bits to represent the integer.

    Usage example:
    #Convert 3 to a binary list
    get_binary_list_from_decimal(3, 4)
    #Return will be [0, 0, 1, 1]
    '''
    #Validate bits parameter.
    if 2**bits <= integer:
        raise ValueError("Error: Number of bits is not sufficient to \
                          represent the integer. Increase bits parameter.")

    #Initialise binary list
    binary_list = []
    remainder = integer
    for i in range(bits-1, -1, -1):
        #If current bit value is less than or equal to the remainder of 
        #the integer then bit value is 1.
        if 2**i <= remainder:
            binary_list.append(1)
            #Subtract the current bit value from the integer.
            remainder = remainder - 2**i
        else:
            binary_list.append(0)

    return binary_list

Example of how to use it:

get_binary_list_from_decimal(1, 3)
#Return will be [0, 0, 1]