&gt;  These explanations are often more confusing than enlightening, since object and classes are actually not like real world objects at all.<p>I desagree. While it&#x27;s true that metaphors can be over-stretched and cause problems later, a well-placed metaphor at the beginning of the learning process can do wonders to quickstart understanding of a topic about which you know nothing at all.<p>At the very least, the metaphor will provide meaning to the very act of learning, explaining why you should bother at all with that topic. Experts explaining their subject often forget what it&#x27;s like to not know how two concepts in their domain relate to each other and the uncertainty when reading a sentence that connects them in a way that has not been seen yet.