Completing our progression from external files (Day 1) to inline content (Day 2), Day 3 demonstrates the most powerful approach: programmatically generating SVG content entirely through JavaScript. This represents the foundation for sophisticated graphics programming.
Instead of pre-defining SVG elements in HTML or loading them from external files, we now create the entire image structure dynamically. Each "pixel" (SVG rectangle) is generated by JavaScript code, allowing for algorithmic image creation, mathematical patterns, and real-time content generation based on user input or computational results.
This approach provides the maximum flexibility for graphics programming. We can implement algorithms that generate images based on mathematical functions, user interactions, or any other programmatic logic. The same techniques we develop here will later be applied to more sophisticated rendering systems, including the ray tracing that gives this series its name.
The image below is generated entirely by JavaScript when the page loads, and the controls allow you to interact with individual elements in real-time.
SVG should be produced here on script load.