code: def convert(values):
      
  
      dtype = values.dtype
  
      if is_categorical_dtype(values):
          return values
  
      elif is_object_dtype(dtype):
          return values.ravel().tolist()
  
      if needs_i8_conversion(dtype):
          values = values.view('i8')
      v = values.ravel()
  
      if compressor == 'zlib':
          _check_zlib()
  
          # return string arrays like they are
          if dtype == np.object_:
              return v.tolist()
  
          # convert to a bytes array
          v = v.tostring()
          return ExtType(0, zlib.compress(v))
  
      elif compressor == 'blosc':
          _check_blosc()
  
          # return string arrays like they are
          if dtype == np.object_:
              return v.tolist()
  
          # convert to a bytes array
          v = v.tostring()
          return ExtType(0, blosc.compress(v, typesize=dtype.itemsize))
  
      # ndarray (on original dtype)
      return ExtType(0, v.tostring())
docs: convert the numpy values to a list