Where has C gone?

[softlead]

In the past, I did alot of programming using C. Recently I just wrote a major software tool using VB.NET. I'm finding C to be to be alot more faster. In C I was able to access serial port registers, write directly to video memory with no overhead. C was fast, period. Of course it ran in MS-DOS. I'm trying to get the same performance level out of VB.NET for the same functions and I'm finding it close to impossible. Any thoughts?

[Motoma]

In the past, I did alot of programming using C. Recently I just wrote a major software tool using VB.NET. I'm finding C to be to be alot more faster. In C I was able to access serial port registers, write directly to video memory with no overhead. C was fast, period. Of course it ran in MS-DOS. I'm trying to get the same performance level out of VB.NET for the same functions and I'm finding it close to impossible. Any thoughts?

If you are concerned with performance issues, I would refrain from using a language containing the word BASIC.
C is still a major player in the programming world. It has a wide array of applications, from embedded systems to high-end production systems.
But most of the languages which have come in after it provide the same abilites as C. If you need to do something, and there ISN'T a way to do it (let me know when you find a situation like this), you are always given the ability to reference libraries, allowing you to resuse your C code in newer applications.