Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t result = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
        uint16_t bit = (val >> i) & 1;   // extract i-th bit
        result |= (bit << (2 * i));      // place it at position 2*i
    }

    return result;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);   // input (0–255)

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);  // print decimal result

    return 0;
}

Solving Approach