Yeah, it's important to differentiate LW knowledge and programming knowledge. Before even considering getting into LW plugin programming in C or even Python, you should have a fundamental understanding of C or Python coding, and a fundamental grasp of Lscript is also highly valuable.
Why Lscript? Simple, because Lscript is "tightly-coupled" to how LW actually works inside, and as a result, the better you understand Lscript, the better you'll be able to grasp how C or Python APIs relate to LW's internal systems. In that sense, Lscript is almost a kind of "pseudocode" description of the interactions needed with LW to carry out operations, so it'll help you better understand how the C and Python APIs are actually "wired into" LW code.
I wouldn't actually recommend "learning to code" using a LW plugin as an "early programming project", because there's so much that must be done just right to get any feedback from LW (and not be a trivial example), and debugging C LW plugins in particularly can be quite tricky (due to the need to hook the debugger to LW, and the limited visibility where you only really see your C code well, all of LW other than API entry points will be as disassembly, which is not useful if you're only just learning C and don't already know x32/x64/x86_64 asm).
You're better off learning the basics of Python using REPL-based experimentation, slowing integrating other modules, etc. before trying to tackle something like a LW plugin. Likewise, in C either a REPL environment or working directly through basic exercises and lessons in something like VIsual Studio / Visual Studio Code / XCode is likely to be a more productive learning environment early-on versus trying to "learn C along the way" as you work through coding a LW plugin.
Ask any questions, happy to help if I can! If you're looking for general-purpose multi-language REPLs for learning, I've found "REPL-it" (
https://replit.com/) to offer productive environment and great value for low cost. I frequently use REPLs there in various languages to try noodling out ideas, playing with new languages, etc.