D.1.11 Static and Other Type Qualifiers Allowed in Array Declarators

6.7.5.2 Array declarator:

The keyword static can now appear in the Array declarator of a parameter in a function declarator to indicate that the compiler can assume at least that many elements will be passed to the function being declared. Allows the optimizer to make assumptions about which it otherwise could not determine.

The C compiler adjusts array parameters into pointers therefore void foo(int a[]) is the same as void foo(int *a).

If you specify type qualifiers such as void foo(int * restrict a);, the C compiler expresses it with array syntax void foo(int a[restrict]); which is essentially the same as declaring a restricted pointer.

The C compiler also uses a static qualifier to preserve information about the array size. For example, if you specify void foo(int a[10]) the compiler still expresses it as void foo(int *a). Use a static qualifier as follows, void foo(int a[static 10]), to let the compiler know that pointer a is not NULL and that it provides access to an integer array of at least ten elements.