I guess if you're a serious company like Apple, you can't really have that kind of tutorial for iOS dev. But that would really help.
The fact that this is true is, to me, a slightly sad reflection on our culture. I understand that too much silliness can get in the way of conveying information, but as you point out, so can too much seriousness.
It's obviously a fine balance, and unfortunately it seems safer to err on the side of seriousness when in doubt. It's one of those things that if you sit down and ask any average individual, they will probably prefer a bit of silliness and an informal style in any situation where it's appropriate, yet somehow collectively we seem to have agreed to default to the opposite, and stick with things being quite dry and serious as a norm.
Interesting, but ultimately a little sad. Why is this the case? Why is our culture this way? Why can't things just be a little more fun by default?
On the other hand, there are brands out there with the exact opposite approach. Cards Against Humanity comes to mind first. Their image is explicitly one of mild carelessness and apparent candidness such that anything written too formally would seem out of place.
But indeed, there do seem to be more of the former brand type than of the latter. Having a neighbor who speaks constantly with a similar tone as the writer of this article, I can say that trying to hold my own in a conversation with him is really tiring. You eventually just run out of witty remarks. Is it possible it's more an issue of skill and time? As in, are there fewer people out there with the skills necessary to make good silly writing than there are people who can write seriously? And does it take them longer (and thus cost even more) to make writing in this style?
I rambled a little, but I think the issue is a combination of people equating seriousness with importance, as well as a general lack of creativity.
(aaaaand this could go on for hours)
they are written in a humorous tone, and intersperse joke drawings between the chapters.
In college, I was a mechanical engineer living with a CompSci major, CompE major, and a CompSci / CompE double-major. I'd occasionally stop them when they were explaining things to me with "Explain like I'm a MechE". Slightly less self-deprecating than "mathematically inclined idiot", but same gist.
Because of this, I was also quite useful as a rubber duck for debugging.