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Topic : Metaphors and other "tricks" in scientific papers In scientific papers (in my case it's usually in computer science) it seems to me that some techniques which help in explaining concepts and - selfpublishingguru.com

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In scientific papers (in my case it's usually in computer science) it seems to me that some techniques which help in explaining concepts and technology are not used that much.

For example a metaphor often helps one to understand abstract concepts. Not the most useful example but something like "Monads are like burritos, they are not plain, but something wrapped in something else".

Another such technique would be explaining a specific (and simple) case of something - and maybe a second and third case - only to reveal later on what they are actually specific cases of. By successfully following the simple examples and seeing what they have in common, it is then easier to get an intuition about what the abstraction is all about. As a bonus, it might also make studying the material more enjoyable because it just seems easier.

Now, I don't remember reading stuff like that all too often in scientific papers, but I often find them in online tutorials, blogs and such.

Is their use generally discouraged, and if so why?

I might be wrong in at least two ways:

These "tricks" are used. I just don't see them.
They have a disadvantage I did not think of. I just think they can be very beneficial, and the extra time spent reading is often worth it.

I think the online book Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! does most of the things I mean. It also includes some jokes and funny drawings which are not what I'm talking about.

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Academic publications have their own individual styles and the ones that I have read (few it must be admitted, when it comes to computer science) generally discourage the use of things like metaphors and other figures of speech, such as hyperbole, similes and understatement.

One reason for this is, I think, is that these things don't cross cultures and language translation very well. For example, I don't what a burrito is. Someone who is a native speaker of Japanese can have more trouble understanding figurative language written in English than someone from say America.

Having said that, popular science journals, even quite technical ones do include articles that use these techniques because they can be very useful for communicating clearly. Figurative language, used well, can make ideas and concepts clearer. For example, I still remember an article I read in the 1980s about computer processors and the whole thing was framed in term of magic.

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