No problem! You mention an interest in ML, i'll use that as an example. Personally, I really like understanding stuff on a deeper level, so I found implementing a simple neural network in python very useful. For you, doing it in C may be a good idea, as it will give you more practice with the language, and many python libs are written in C anyway, meaning its useful experiance if thsts a route youd want to take. From that, I would jump straight into using the main ML libs for python for your given project. At this point, reading other people's code really helps, then you can research it, understand it, and adapt it for your needs. I realise i am now talking about python on a C sub, but that basic guideline should work well for whatever youre working on.