Compress Interleaved Bits Reverse Bit Spreading

Code

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

uint8_t compress_bits(uint16_t val) {
   /*
   //uhm,it actually doesn't want you to reverse?????
    uint16_t reversed = 0;
    uint16_t curr = 0;

    for(int i=0; i<16; i++){
        curr = val>>(15-i) & 0x0001;
        reversed |= curr<<i;
    }
    */
    uint8_t evens = 0;

    for(int i=0; i<8; i++){
        evens |= ((val>>(i*2)) & 0x0001)<<i;
    }
    return evens;
}

int main() {
    uint16_t val;
    scanf("%hu", &val);

    uint8_t result = compress_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach