AFAIK, this thing doesn't work any more than it did a year ago...
Pretty embarrassing for HN to be so reliably trolled.
For example, why not compile or manually translate some examples to C as a prototype? What can be done in assembly can mostly be done in C as well, if you're willing to sacrifice some performance.
As for proof of concepts, on the mailing list he has stated that ANI is more or less a natural progression from previous unreleased projects.
Having said that, I agree that focusing on getting something working before trying to make it fast is the correct way to do it...