What's a modern term for “array/pointer equivalence”?

Question

Just about everyone reading this is probably familiar with these three key facts about C:

1. When you mention the name of an array in an expression, it evaluates

Answer 1

I agree that terms like "pointer/array equivalence" or "array decay" (into a pointer) are inaccurate and can be very misleading.

I'd propose the following:

Access into an array using the [] operator with an index has an equivalent pointer arithmetic expression. However, there is no equivalence between a pointer and an array: I can happily change a pointer's value (content), maybe to save a separate iteration counter, but I cannot do that with the "decayed" array; it is immutable, and in some respects, exhibits similar behaviour to C++ references.

Both verbs "to decay" and "to convert" in English invariably convey that the original is changed in the process. Using an array's name or using the unary '&' operator don't change their operand.

Therefore, an expression like "yields a pointer" or "creates a pointer" would be more accurate That is reflected in the fact that in both cases the resulting pointer is a temporary thing, (usually) sitting in a GP-register of the CPU, and cannot be assigned to.

At least that is my understanding, looking at disassemblies seems to confirm that.