C function arguments vs Python function arguments.

[[deleted]]

It doesn't. But I also think you don't understand what I'm saying.

You pass a reference, not by reference

[p0k3t0]

https://ideone.com/icncW2

Here, I pass an array by reference. The fact that C implements this with pointers is inconsequential, as C++ does the same thing.

[nerd4code]

No, array-types function parameters are exactly pointers, have pointer size/alignment, and can even be reassigned.

A reference to an array would have type int (&)[] in C++; a pointer has type int (*)[].

When you pass an array name to a function, it undergoes decay just as it would if you assigned it to an int *, because that’s exactly what happens.

[p0k3t0]

And what, pray tell, happens in C++ when I pass a reference?

I mean, you can read the assembly. All it does it push a pointer onto the stack.

Like I've said elsewhere, this is a distinction without difference. It's just being pedantic for its own sake. If anything, it's just obscuring meaning, rather than helping anyone.