It’s not really for beginners though, but maybe possible to start it together with a beginners book in a language of choice. It starts with points, vectors and matrixes, but gets more advanced later on. It’s around 250 pages and there’s basically no code provided, just test scenarios and a bit of pseudo code.
This is my favorite programming book. It provides the test cases for the whole ray tracer, and making them pass was really addictive. I was obsessed with it for the month or so it took to finish.
He's also written another book on mazes, but I haven't had the chance to read it. I wish there were a similar book on 2D graphics, which are plenty complex themselves.
http://raytracerchallenge.com/
It’s not really for beginners though, but maybe possible to start it together with a beginners book in a language of choice. It starts with points, vectors and matrixes, but gets more advanced later on. It’s around 250 pages and there’s basically no code provided, just test scenarios and a bit of pseudo code.