The following will produce the bit representation of an ord(byte) in python
def bit(chr, i=0, str=''):
if i > 7: return str
coef = (2**(8-i-1))
if chr >= coef: return bit(chr-coef, i+1, str+'1')
return bit(chr, i+1, str+'0')
Example
print bit(ord(“a”))
01100001