Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) 
{
    // Your logic here
    short int j;
   for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) 
   {
        uint8_t bit = (val >> i) & 1;           // Extract i-th bit
        j |= (bit << (2 * i));             // Place in 2*i position
   }
    return j;
}

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

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

Solving Approach