Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t spread_val = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
        if (val & (1 << i)) { // check if bit is set 
            spread_val |= (1 << (i * 2)); // Set current bit to 1
        }
        else { // bit is not set
            spread_val &= ~(1 << (i * 2)); // Set current bit to 0
        }
    return spread_val;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach