Bram Moolenaar

Lore & Background

Bram Moolenaar was a Dutch software engineer and activist, best known as the creator and lifelong maintainer of the Vim text editor. Born in 1961 in Lisse, Netherlands, he graduated from Delft University of Technology in 1985 with a degree in electrical engineering. After purchasing an Amiga computer in 1988, he found that the vi editor had not been ported to that platform, so he tested several clones including Stevie. Taking Stevie’s source code, he improved it and added new capabilities, most notably the ability to undo multiple levels of changes. The first release, called "Vi IMitation," appeared in 1992 on a public domain disk set by Fred Fish. Soon after, users ported Vim to MS-DOS and Unix, and by version 1.22 later that year, the name was changed to "Vi IMproved." Vim is open-source and charityware, with users encouraged to donate to ICCF Holland, a nonprofit Moolenaar founded to support children orphaned by AIDS in Uganda. He first volunteered there in 1994 as a water and sanitation engineer and made many return trips over the following quarter-century. Moolenaar also created a software build tool called A-A-P, written in Python and similar to make, and a programming language named Zimbu focused on readability. He worked at Google from July 2006 to September 2021 in the Zürich office, contributing to Google Calendar while continuing to maintain Vim part-time. Moolenaar was a member of the Dutch Unix user group NLUUG, which honored him for his creation of Vim and open-source contributions. He died on 3 August 2023 at age 62 due to a rapidly developing medical condition, and his funeral was held in Lisse.

Reader's Guide

Bram Moolenaar’s significance stems from his creation and decades-long stewardship of Vim, a highly influential text editor that evolved from the classic vi. After purchasing an Amiga computer in 1988 and finding no native vi port, he modified the source code of an existing clone called Stevie, eventually adding features like multi-level undo. The first release, named "Vi IMitation," appeared in 1992 on a public-domain disk set, and by version 1.22 later that year it was renamed "Vi IMproved." Users quickly ported Vim to other systems, including MS-DOS and Unix, broadening its reach. Vim is distributed as open-source charityware, with users encouraged to donate to ICCF Holland, an organization Moolenaar founded to support children orphaned by AIDS in Uganda. This licensing model has been adopted by other applications. Vim has won multiple awards and is regarded as one of the most popular text editors in software development. Beyond Vim, Moolenaar created a Python-based build tool called A-A-P, similar to make, and a programming language named Zimbu focused on code readability. He was a member of the Dutch Unix user group NLUUG, which honored him for Vim and his open-source contributions. His advocacy for ICCF Holland began after volunteering as a water and sanitation engineer for the Kibaale Children’s Centre in 1994, with multiple return trips over the following decades. Moolenaar worked at Google from 2006 to 2021, maintaining Vim alongside his role on Google Calendar. After his death in 2023, Vim was continued by co-contributor Christian Brabandt, and Moolenaar received a posthumous European SFS Award in 2024.

Did You Know?

• He founded ICCF Holland, a non-governmental organization based in Kibaale, Uganda, to support children whose parents died of AIDS.