When you assign a string literal such as "ABC" to char a[] ex.
char a[] = "ABC";
it has the effect of doing
char a[4] = {'A','B','C','0'};
does this same thing apply when you pass it to a function parameter
ex.
int f(char a[]);
vs.
int f(char *a);
does this same thing apply when you pass it to a function parameter
No; in general, in C you can't pass arrays directly by value; every array parameter to a function is actually interpreted by the compiler as a pointer parameter, i.e. when you write
int f(char a[]);
the compiler sees
int f(char *a);
(the same applies even if you specify the dimensions of the array)
By the way,
it has the effect of doing
char a[3] = {'A','B','C"};
Actually, it has the effect of doing:
char a[4] = {'A','B','C', 0};
No, because both of those function declarations are identical. Both declare a function that takes a pointer to char, and in both cases the argument becomes initialised with a pointer to the first element of the string literal.
"ABC"is achar [4]not achar [3]