You could just use blogs and websites like Hacker News, twitter, etc to advertise yourself, I personally ignore any emails which are sent to me advertising some kind of product.
Unfortunately after years of phising scams and other similar email based issues, I do not trust anyone online enough to "check out their cool new product".
Continue. Everybody has doubts at some point in their career, should I pursue this course, should I get rid of this one.
This is not failure to launch, rather, it is failure to fly.
If your skills are not yet good enough, then improve them as you code, the best way to improve is to keep coding, even if it doesn't work out then at least you will leave with a sound knowledge of your chosen platform.
You have already invested months in to this project, the very least you could do is release the minimum viable project and then using requests from your users, improve upon the project in real-time.
You are clever enough. Coding is as simple as adding one and two, getting three, outputting it, making it look nice and shiny and then poking the user with it.
It is only as difficult as you make it. You can do this. Have faith. Not the crappy faith you might possibly get if you ask your chosen deity for help, but the faith you can use to keep the will to continue.
It would most likely scare them off, if they were coming from little to no programming experience, but I agree. In fact, I think that what you said applies to most languages, learning them is often a lot harder then it is portrayed.
I for one am sick of hearing "Learn Python in just ten days", "Learn Ruby, the easy way!", "PHP Programming in ten minutes or your money back"... you get the idea.
But if it was easy, there would be a lot more developers and companies like Google and Apple would not pay half as much as they do, nor specifically head-hunt talent, it would come begging to them, so I suppose that there are both pros and cons to this.
But remember this, no matter how "artsy" and beautiful your website is, make sure you are firstly, pitching to the right targets, secondly, make sure it works and thirdly, make sure that it is actually performing some kind of useful task for them, be that connecting them to their friends, showing them how to cook an omelette or showing them pictures of kittens dressed as Hitler.
My experience with PHP has not been as terrible as most rails users make it out to be. Once I learned the PHP syntax I got flying with it, I didn't have a single problem.
I just don't see the point in ditching PHP now to learn ruby just because it has become the latest online fad, better to stick with what I know until I develop serious problems with PHP which I believe only changing languages could solve.
Right: first of all, congratulations on having the mental capacity required to get this far with your coding. You have undoubtedly come far from your days using Hello World.
The first thing I have to say is this, I do not mean this as an insult, but unless you are an extremely talented programmer, who can create amazingly functional sites, you will struggle unless you improve your typography and design overall.
Your personal website is the first thing anyone will see when they search for you, make it a good one. Take your time, ask people to tell you what they think (honestly, don't sugar coat it.)
Secondly, yes, a college entrepreneur can "make it in the Real World" - this requires plenty of hard work, dedication and not taking no as an answer.
Improve your abilities, get a product out there, even if it is the minimal viable product.
Now. Read the paragraph 2 paragraphs above this one. Get to work, you haven't yet begun and there is a long way to go.
Three years of debugging and writing code and I have never seen an @ used, I would consider getting rid of the key but I need the darned thing for logging in to my hotmail :(
The javascript console on -webkit (Chrome)is a godsend for me, because if you have a JQuery bug, nothing at all works, so instead of being able to do one large update you have to do it in small ones, or spend ages debugging.
Of course, you could just write correct code, but no one is perfect and mistakes do happen. Would be better if the errors it found were displayed in a more clear form of english instead of generic error names, but it is better than looking over line after line trying to find that darn missing semi-colon.
I use an echo'd statement or the "or die" function when using PHP, I just find it easier for me, as I am used to the error messages.
PHP at compile time has it's own built in error warnings (for those unlucky enough to get PARSE ERROR as often as I do) which can be useful, although for loops the line it finds the error on can sometimes be completely wrong, and normally derivative of another error.
I use Bancaja mainly, it is a Spanish bank which recently integrated with another larger one, Bankia. The transition was awful, I didn't have access to my card for 6 days, then I didn't have access to the funds in the account for a further three.
My wages were not successfully paid in due to the bank not changing my account over to the international bank number, which had to be rectified.
The process cost me money for 12 days and made me incur an overdraft charge (Which Bankia, after several stern phone calls from the family solicitor agreed to pay back, plus a generous compensation packet totalling near 40 euros.)
I almost lost my home (and this was right before I was due to move back to the UK, so it would have been catastrophic) due to this.
This is by no means the typical Bankia experience, and I would still advocate the use of the bank, it is normally a fabulous one, but my experience in particular was terrible, and I shall be swapping to another bank (preferably Santander or a british one) prior to being paid again.
Why could the user not let the system know what environmental issues were involved?
Provide users with an input field with an optional brief description. Not only will this allow them to help clarify what you require, but it will also help to match them up with grammar, mentality, style of speech etc.
If executed correctly it could even become the de-facto standard by which users measure their conditions against others and the first step to having develop the links you want.
I had them for my high school statistics exams, I remember having one which just said: "Hypothesis testing via the binomial tables of probabi" and then presumably they ran out of characters because it cut off there.
Currently, waiting for the coursera cryptography course and I just began working for a web design company in Preston, England. Entry level wage, but good experience :)
Although, I'm also building a blog for my girlfriend, as she is "sick of tumblr" (lame, I know, but she begged me >.< ) and will likely pop it on here in a few days once it's finished.
I am a 19 year old programmer, I began in 2009, learning PHP via debugging a broken PHP script for a friend. It took me a long time, days, as the script was 2,300 lines long and I was a complete beginner.
w3cschools was a great help during this time, but I would say that my biggest help was trial and error. You have to get a lot of things wrong before your finally understand how to do them right.
Once I learned PHP I wanted an easier way to display data, and started learning markup, XHTML, CSS, etc. I used w3cschools again for this.
I read a few books at that time (unfortunately, they were online, and I can not for the life of me remember what they were, apologies) to help improve my skills and began to study typography. This mainly involved searching google for web typography, experimenting in photoshop and then creating the styles as close as I could in CSS.
About 7 months ago I realised that I needed more depth, I was not content with mere web applications. I started learning .cpp, using the visual express 2010 tutorials provided with the download and then I started searching for (once again via google) simple code examples. My time with PHP had taught me simple class architecture so it was not as difficult to pick up as a beginner would find it.
As I expanded my knowledge I found that I could not find enough online material, so I started a local "computer club", where I could meet like minded people. Via Coursera (the online stanford cryptography class was fabulous) and the club I have since gained what I would consider an acceptable level of programming with .CPP (and Python, but that is a whole other story.)
Along the way, I also added javascript, mysql and xml, but I left these out due to their connection to web design.
Anyway, this is just the path I chose, I dare say it was unconventional, but it worked for me.
If you are looking for advice, all I will say is this: Google is your friend, MiTx will definitely help you to improve once you gain an acceptable skill and coursera's CS101 class would give you the basic knowledge required to continue.
Also, on an unrelated note, congratulations, I have read HN for a very long time now, and I signed up specifically to reply to your question :)
Unfortunately after years of phising scams and other similar email based issues, I do not trust anyone online enough to "check out their cool new product".