Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t answer = 0;
    uint8_t mask = 1U;
    for(int i = 0; i < 8; i++){
        answer += (mask&val) << (2*i + 1);
        val = val >> 1;
    }
    return answer >> 1;
}

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

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

Solving Approach