Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t a=0;
    for(int i=0;i<8;i++){
        int bit=1&(val>>i);
        a=a|(bit<<i*2);

    }return a;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);
    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach