Why am I being told that an array is a pointer? What is the relationship between arrays and pointers in C++?

Question

My background is C++ and I\'m currently about to start developing in C# so am doing some research. However, in the process I came across something that raised a question abo

Answer 1

Arrays and pointers in C and C++ can be used with the exact same semantics and syntax in the vast majority of cases.

That is achieved by one feature:

Arrays decay to pointers to their first element in nearly all contexts.
Exceptions in C: sizeof, _Alignas, _Alignas, address-of &
In C++, the difference can also be important for overload-resolution.

In addition, array notation for function arguments is deceptive, these function-declarations are equivalent:

int f(int* a);
int f(int a[]);
int f(int a[3]);

But not to this one:

int f(int (&a)[3]);