Your explanation of how this works is correct. Your aversion to following this outdated practice is widely supported.
As for the reason, I've forgotten (though long ago I used to do it to -- like driving home from the pub and smoking, everyone did and thought nothing of it) but perhaps the earliest versions of the language didn't support passing the whole array as a parameter. Perhaps someone else, whose brain is not addled by the potent mix of booze, tobacco and FORTRAN (that's right, shout it out) remembers more clearly.
