[MaxBarraclough]

> This is no where near C's speed. It's just an implementation of a C like language.

I don't understand this criticism. It seems reasonable for the end-result compiler to support only a 'significant subset of C', rather than total compliance with the standard. It also seems reasonable for the performance of its generated code to be nowhere near that of the major optimising C compilers.

How could it possibly be otherwise? A serious modern C compiler is the result of millions of dollars of specialised software engineering.

> C's selling point is performance and portability and this book covers neither

I've not read the book, but it apparently does cover optimisation.