POV-Ray: Newsgroups: povray.general: THERE's A BOOK??!

POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : THERE's A BOOK??!		Server Time 26 Jan 2026 00:47:31 EST (-0500)

From: Bald Eagle
Subject: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 12 Nov 2025 10:55:00
Message: <web.6914ad7bc6218ff576d02faa25979125@news.povray.org>

I guess this must be David K. Buck's brother?

https://devtalk.com/books/the-ray-tracer-challenge

Dave wrote the foreword?

Did anyone know about this?

- BE

Post a reply to this message

From: kurtz le pirate
Subject: Re: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 12 Nov 2025 12:06:46
Message: <6914bea6$1@news.povray.org>

On 12/11/2025 16:53, Bald Eagle wrote:
> I guess this must be David K. Buck's brother?
> 
> https://devtalk.com/books/the-ray-tracer-challenge
> 
> Dave wrote the foreword?
> 
> Did anyone know about this?

yes, that's him. we can read it at the end of the foreword :
   David Buck
   Author of DKBTrace and Coauthor of POV-Ray
and that was back in 2019

-- 
kurtz le pirate
compagnie de la banquise

Post a reply to this message

From: Bald Eagle
Subject: Re: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 12 Nov 2025 12:30:00
Message: <web.6914c2fd4102bfb76d02faa25979125@news.povray.org>

Writeup:

https://medium.com/@jogrosso/the-ray-tracer-challenge-learning-c-through-computer-graphics-e45a68fb7cd5

Post a reply to this message

From: David Buck
Subject: Re: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 20 Jan 2026 22:11:59
Message: <697043ff$1@news.povray.org>

On 2025-11-12 12:06 p.m., kurtz le pirate wrote:
> On 12/11/2025 16:53, Bald Eagle wrote:
>> I guess this must be David K. Buck's brother?
>>
>> https://devtalk.com/books/the-ray-tracer-challenge
>>
>> Dave wrote the foreword?
>>
>> Did anyone know about this?
> 
> yes, that's him. we can read it at the end of the foreword :
>    David Buck
>    Author of DKBTrace and Coauthor of POV-Ray
> and that was back in 2019
> 

Yes, I wrote the forward to The Ray Tracer Challenge.  I even followed 
the implementation guided by the book (using Smalltalk) and gave some 
feedback to Jamis about it.

BTW, the last name is a pure coincidence.  As far as I can tell, we're 
not related.

These days, I'm approaching retirement within a few years.  I'm 
releasing a free open-source version of the Smalltalk programming 
language and environment called Beagle Smalltalk.  I do hope to be able 
to do some raytracing in it among other things.  My goal with this is to 
provide an environment where people can easily explore and discover the 
world of software.

I'll also be including sound, music, graphics, games, and lots more.  I 
plan to have fun with software again - hopefully I can get others hooked 
on it as well.

David Buck
Author DKBTrace / POV-Ray

Post a reply to this message

From: Josh English
Subject: Re: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 24 Jan 2026 21:25:30
Message: <69757f1a$1@news.povray.org>

On 11/12/2025 7:53 AM, Bald Eagle wrote:
> I guess this must be David K. Buck's brother?
> 
> https://devtalk.com/books/the-ray-tracer-challenge
> 
> Dave wrote the foreword?
> 
> Did anyone know about this?
> 
> - BE
> 
It looks interesting but I don't see any way to actually buy the book.

Is this a case of DevTalk not understanding capitalism or am I missing a 
bold "buy now" button?

Uncle Josh

Post a reply to this message

From: David Buck
Subject: Re: THERE's A BOOK??!
Date: 24 Jan 2026 21:30:15
Message: <69758037$1@news.povray.org>

On 2026-01-24 9:25 p.m., Josh English wrote:
> On 11/12/2025 7:53 AM, Bald Eagle wrote:
>> I guess this must be David K. Buck's brother?
>>
>> https://devtalk.com/books/the-ray-tracer-challenge
>>
>> Dave wrote the foreword?
>>
>> Did anyone know about this?
>>
>> - BE
>>
> It looks interesting but I don't see any way to actually buy the book.
> 
> Is this a case of DevTalk not understanding capitalism or am I missing a 
> bold "buy now" button?
> 
> Uncle Josh

Check out the book's web page:

http://raytracerchallenge.com/

There's a link at the top for ways to purchase the book.

David Buck

Post a reply to this message