Bram Moolenaar
Encyclopedia
Bram Moolenaar is an active member of the open source
software community. He is the author of Vim
, a text editor that is very popular among programmers and power users.
The Vim editor started as "Vi IMitation" on the Amiga
in 1988, but was later relabeled "Vi IMproved" and ported to many other platforms. As vi
was a popular editor amongst programmers and system administrators, there initially was doubt whether Brams "improved" version could achieve the quality and fan following of the original. But since its first release for Unix systems in 1992, Vim has effectively eclipsed the original Vi, having won several awards and being commonly mentioned as one of the most popular text editors, whereas the original vi is seldom if at all mentioned in such lists.
Bram promotes charity and encourages people to support orphans in Uganda. He pioneered a methodology called charityware through his Vim editor. The software itself is available for free, but it encourages the user to donate to the programmer's favorite charity. A number of other applications have been licensed this way since the inception of this concept.
Other software tools that Moolenaar has developed include a software build tool written in Python
, called A-A-P
, which is similar to make, and a programming language called Zimbu, which puts an emphasis on readability of programs. Bram is also an assurer for the non-profit certificate authority
CAcert, which means that he is eligible to verify the identities of people using the CAcert web of trust
model. Amongst all of Moolenaar's contributions to the field of computer science, the Vim editor remains his most prominent and a widely used application.
Bram has been a member of a Dutch Unix user group, NLUUG, which presented him with an award during its 25th anniversary, for his creation of Vim and his contributions to open source software in general.
, Bram works at Google, working in the Zürich
office since July 2006. He is also the maintainer and release manager of the Vim editor.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software community. He is the author of Vim
Vim (text editor)
Vim is a text editor written by Bram Moolenaar and first released publicly in 1991. Based on the vi editor common to Unix-like systems, Vim is designed for use both from a command line interface and as a standalone application in a graphical user interface...
, a text editor that is very popular among programmers and power users.
The Vim editor started as "Vi IMitation" on the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
in 1988, but was later relabeled "Vi IMproved" and ported to many other platforms. As vi
Vi
vi is a screen-oriented text editor originally created for the Unix operating system. The portable subset of the behavior of vi and programs based on it, and the ex editor language supported within these programs, is described by the Single Unix Specification and POSIX.The original code for vi...
was a popular editor amongst programmers and system administrators, there initially was doubt whether Brams "improved" version could achieve the quality and fan following of the original. But since its first release for Unix systems in 1992, Vim has effectively eclipsed the original Vi, having won several awards and being commonly mentioned as one of the most popular text editors, whereas the original vi is seldom if at all mentioned in such lists.
Bram promotes charity and encourages people to support orphans in Uganda. He pioneered a methodology called charityware through his Vim editor. The software itself is available for free, but it encourages the user to donate to the programmer's favorite charity. A number of other applications have been licensed this way since the inception of this concept.
Other software tools that Moolenaar has developed include a software build tool written in Python
Python
The Pythonidae, commonly known simply as pythons, from the Greek word python-πυθων, are a family of non-venomous snakes found in Africa, Asia and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world...
, called A-A-P
A-A-P
A-A-P is a computer program used primarily to download, build and install software. It executes what are called "recipes", which are similar to Makefiles, but significantly more powerful...
, which is similar to make, and a programming language called Zimbu, which puts an emphasis on readability of programs. Bram is also an assurer for the non-profit certificate authority
Certificate authority
In cryptography, a certificate authority, or certification authority, is an entity that issues digital certificates. The digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate...
CAcert, which means that he is eligible to verify the identities of people using the CAcert web of trust
Web of trust
In cryptography, a web of trust is a concept used in PGP, GnuPG, and other OpenPGP-compatible systems to establish the authenticity of the binding between a public key and its owner. Its decentralized trust model is an alternative to the centralized trust model of a public key infrastructure ,...
model. Amongst all of Moolenaar's contributions to the field of computer science, the Vim editor remains his most prominent and a widely used application.
Bram has been a member of a Dutch Unix user group, NLUUG, which presented him with an award during its 25th anniversary, for his creation of Vim and his contributions to open source software in general.
, Bram works at Google, working in the Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
office since July 2006. He is also the maintainer and release manager of the Vim editor.