std::array's documentation mistakenly says it derefs to [T]

[niconii]

The doc page for std::array says this:

Arrays dereference to slices ([T]), so their methods can be called on arrays.

However, though this is true of Vec<T>, arrays in fact coerce via CoerceUnsized, not via deref coercion.

[bluss]

It's compiler built in either way, not related to the Deref or CoerceUnsized traits.

[Gankra]

@nrc how would you describe the current situation

[nrc]

There is definitely no dereferencing going on, so "coerce" is more accurate. This uses the Unsize trait, not the CoerceUnsized one, but since all the impls of Unsize are magic, there is not much point in mentioning it. I'd just say the compiler coerces it and leave it at that.

[bluss]

and it's the same unsizing happening in both method resolution as with coercion?

[nrc]

@bluss yes