Why can you cast int[] to Object, but not to Object[]?

Question

So this works:

int i;
Object a  = (Object) i;
int[] t;
Object b = (Object) t;
String[] s;
Object[] t = (Object[]) s;

But this does not:

Answer 1

I just found the answer I was looking for myself. The reason why you cannot cast int[] to Object[] is not because int is a primitive and does not extend Object, but because int[] itself does not extend Object[]. In code:

int[] t = new int[0];
Object ot = t;
System.out.println(ot instanceof Object[]);
// --> prints 'false'
String[] s = new String[0];
Object os = s;
System.out.println(os instanceof Object[]);
// --> prints 'true'

Edit: the boxing is necessary because Eclipse knows that int[] and Object[] are incompatible.

Edit II: Btw this if(obj instanceof Object[]) allows to check wether a boxed array is an array of a primitive type.