I think you would have to separate out the different aspects of implementation, syntax and publicity into things that could be patented, copyrighted or trademarked.
You could look at Loglan vs Logban for strongly related issues on what you can and can not copyright in language in general.
I wish this article mentioned more information about LadyCoders. I feel like it lead up to the point "go to a LadyCoders seminar" without explaining much about what LadyCoders is. Guess I'll just have to do my own research.
I'm happy to answer your questions here in the comments. I am one of the LadyCoders; my name is Tarah Wheeler Van Vlack. LadyCoders is an initiative that puts on seminars and provides mentorship for programmers (often women) who find that they're having problems getting jobs in tech. Women often suffer from Impostor Syndrome. That frequently manifests itself as the inability to be confident about their skills in front of technical interviewers.
Do you guys ever consider getting involved with University Computer Science programs?
I went to this extremely depressing "females in computer science" sort of mentoring meeting today and all of the women holding it essentially conveyed the idea "don't go into industry (got to grad school), they will eat you alive since you're a woman." it was horrid to hear this from other women. I'm glad to see that not everyone agrees with that.
Why should an app have a personality? Apps should 'do', not 'be'. In my opinion, the user shouldn't ever notice the interface, because its only purpose is to facilitate the service; anything that disrupts the purpose (like a 'personality') is distracting from what it's supposed to do.
What do you make of a service like Siri that imposes a personality on the UI without disrupting its usability? Anecdotally, many people like communicating with such an interface that simulates human conversation, even if the results themselves aren't improved by it.
Good point. Except for games or kids apps, the ui should get out of the way and have no personality. It should have some identity though, so we can tell apps apart, but a logo and a color scheme is enough usually.
There are other women here. I know of a few names but will not list them. If they don't want to call attention to it, that's their choice. A lot of the women here downplay their gender, and with good reason.
edit: Does anyone know much about the precedence (in court rulings) of ownership of programming languages?