Bram Moolenaar has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#151

Post by sramsay » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:01 PM UTC

scop wrote: post #55

aspyct wrote: post #33

Wow that hits rather hard actually. I never knew him other than through the welcome message on Vim, but he made one of the tools I rely on the most in my daily life. Thanks Bram, have a good afterlife.

I am likewise surprised by how hard this hits. I shouted out loud when I read the headline! Quite a reaction to somebody who I only ever saw one photo of and read the occasional release notes etc. Yet as a vim user, he has been part my daily activities for years. The name Bram Moolenaar has hovered across all my work… Thank you Mr. Moolenaar.

Absolutely. I've written everything in Vim for almost as long as Vim has been around -- three books, dozens of talks and papers, who knows how many lines of code . . .

I had been joking on social media a few weeks ago that Vim must be "done" since patches stopped appearing about a month ago. Can't believe that the guy who created maybe the most important tool in my entire arsenal is gone.

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#152

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:03 PM UTC

What would you all think of naming an annual award for the greatest contribution to vim in Bram's honor?

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#153

Post by passion__desire » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:05 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#154

Post by riedel » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:05 PM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #19

Few people could probably argue that they helped as many humans in dire situations like Bram did in his life. Vim was the first time I came across "charityware" as vim encourages users to donate to International Child Care Fund Holland on its splash screen, instead of begging for money for itself. I feel a bit of shame when I say that I've only donated to ICCF once over all these years.... As a remembrance of Bram an…

The news made me unexpectedly said. There are not many people that felt so close without ever knowing them, just because I used their software. Thank you for the reminder to donate: the least thing one can do now. I think most of the digital stuff I ever produced in my life was using vim. Software, scripts, websites, theses, a book, I actually even used a plugin to fill out text boxes in the web using vim.

All the stray 'i's in documents or source code in stuff I had to write with other editors give evidence to my dedication. Thank you Bram! May you live forever in vim.

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#155

Post by lillesvin » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:05 PM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #19

Few people could probably argue that they helped as many humans in dire situations like Bram did in his life. Vim was the first time I came across "charityware" as vim encourages users to donate to International Child Care Fund Holland on its splash screen, instead of begging for money for itself. I feel a bit of shame when I say that I've only donated to ICCF once over all these years.... As a remembrance of Bram an…

This is a great idea. Bram has made a huge positive impact on the world, even if most people aren't aware of it. I'd love to help make it even bigger.

Edit: Hmm... PayPal seems to throw error after error at me when I try to donate. I'll keep trying.

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#156

Post by taf2 » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:06 PM UTC

:wq

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#157

Post by taf2 » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:09 PM UTC

I remember it was 1997 when my older brother gave me his .vimrc file and explained to me a few of the basic commands. It took a few years but have used vim exclusively ever since. I’m deeply saddened by our loss in the open source community by this and wonder what contributions we can carry forward

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#158

Post by Pseudomanifold » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:11 PM UTC

Thanks for everything, Bram. Your memory will be a blessing.

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#159

Post by enneff » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:12 PM UTC

RIP Bram. I enjoyed meeting him in Zurich one time. He was good company. A really humble, sweet guy.

Re: Bram Moolenaar has died

#160

Post by lolive » Sat, Aug 05, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

Went to his website. There was an interview of him from 2022. The answer that really stroke me was not about Vim, but about software craftmanship vs professional programming:

« I have been working for a company where quite a few managers, educated in physics and mechanics, thought the software was just the same as what they knew and they could decide how to make it. That company went downhill and was eventually taken over. The same happens in places where decision-makers can get away with failure, such as in government. The people writing the code probably just make sure they get paid and then run away from the crime scene. On the other end of the scale are people who want to write beautiful code, spend lots of time on it, and don’t care if it actually does what it was intended to do or what the budget was. Somewhere in between, there is a balance. »

I am not so sure about the last sentence. But the rest is SO true!