code: public static byte[] serialize(Serializable obj) {
          ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream(512);
          serialize(obj, baos);
          return baos.toByteArray();
      }
docs: <p>Serializes an <code>Object</code> to a byte array for
  storage/serialization.</p>
  
  @param obj  the object to serialize to bytes
  @return a byte[] with the converted Serializable
  @throws SerializationException (runtime) if the serialization fails