Ok thanks.

According to the wikipedia ray casting article, the two were used interchangeably "in early computer graphics literature", just to make me feel even older.

One of the differences nobody mentioned yet is that Wolfenstein 3D was based on 2D ray casting. It’s much less common to use the term “ray tracing” for two-dimensional rays, and more common to use something more generic like “ray casting” in that case. This is in addition to how the WP article mentions that “ray casting” is currently referring to visibility testing, and “ray tracing” is more often referring to a specific rendering algorithm.

The big difference is ray casting is just along a line, not on every pixel. Hence the thing with not being able to make overhangs.

> The big difference is ray casting is just along a line, not on every pixel.

I think you have it backwards. Ray tracing is O(#of pixels*number of light bounces). More common 3D rendering is based on O(# of objects in the scene). It's conceivable that ray tracing can be more efficient for scenes with many objects.