Bram Moolenaar, the creator of the widely respected Vim code editor, has passed away at the age of 62. The family announced his passing in a heartfelt Google Groups message on August 5, revealing a sudden progression of a medical condition that had afflicted him.
Calling it a code editor is like calling my car a “work transport vehicle”
Vim is an all purpose text-editing machine and although it has some definite quirks it solves problems. If you’ve used original vi you’ll know just how much more amazing vim is without changing the core concepts.
Much love to Bram, you made the world a better place ❤️
Vim is just way better than Vi if I have to use it to actually change more than a few characters in a text file/config.
It’s probably just me but with Vi I struggle with inputting any text because I’m used to using the arrow keys to navigate. It keeps putting a ‘B’, in particular, and newlines whenever I want to navigate text.
I used to use arrow keys with VIM, but found that using
hjklworked better in some circumstances. Especially when writing reusable macros. It also avoids the need to move your fingers away from the main keys, making you faster.I highly recommend getting use to using
hjklrather than the arrow keys.Some cases? hjkl is such a euphoric way to move around that all my keyboards have the arrow keys mapped to those letters under a layer. Truly a game changer.
Man, I’m sad 😔.
I knew him personally (we worked for the same company at a point in time, although very different departments). I’m also a heavy vim user.
We once were in the same meeting where the unsuspecting meeting chair was taking nodes in emacs org-mode. Most of other meeting members were not geeks, so nobody knew who Bram was. I said “Bram, look at this, they’re taking notes in emacs just to piss you off”, to which he responded “yeah, and it is horrible…” 😁
Farewell and :wq
What was your impression of him?
Unfortunately, I only had limited interactions with him. I was the lead on a project that needed a few things from his team, and we had a number of meetings due to that.
From my limited contact, he seemed like a chill guy. Never made any unreasonable assumptions and had a technical view on how to solve problems.
He advertised his charity on every release, I’m sure they’d appreciate donations in his honor.
He seemed very passionate about this cause and it would be a wonderful way to honor him if you’ve enjoyed using vim. I donated a few dollars a few years back and he wrote me a personal thank you email, which was unexpected. Sad to hear this news. :(
For those that want to pay tribute to Bram, I suggest donating to ICCF, which is the charity that has also been mentioned in Vim’s splash screen since the very beginning (see also:
:help iccfin Vim/Neovim). I’m kinda embarrassed that I never got around to it before — I’ve been using Vim/Neovim for more than two decades!:wq Thanks Bram for a great editor! Vim is probably one of the most useful pieces of software ever written. I know that I use it literally every day.
:wq
The contributions will not be forgotten
:wq!
I use Vim everyday! I’m so glad I took the time to learn it as it has increased my productivity significantly and now I can’t imagine not using it. Thanks Bram, for your amazing work over the years. RIP
:wq
been using vim daily for 22 years. condolences to the family. :wq
:wq!
One of the few pieces of software I’m proud of having learned - and use!
:wq!
much love to Bram, I’ve tried vi and instantly felt how much vim helped, a toast to a great mind 🥂
An exceptional piece of software in so many ways, created by a very special person. You are missed.
:wq!
I started my UNIX/Linux life on Vi and never stopped using it as my preferred editor. Vim was a great and somehow near invisible upgrade. This is truly a great loss but he has left a huge and lasting impact on the world of computing.
:wq
Everyone’s giving tribute with
:wq!, but don’t forget about:x!andZZ.
