libc function naming

Does anyone know why it is conventional for libc functions and vars to be names starting with "__" ?

Thanks
petrolheadAsked:
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avizitConnect With a Mentor Commented:
copy pasting parts from the above link

# Other people reading your code could get very confused if you were using a function named exit to do something completely different from what the standard exit function does, for example. Preventing this situation helps to make your programs easier to understand and contributes to modularity and maintainability.

# It avoids the possibility of a user accidentally redefining a library function that is called by other library functions. If redefinition were allowed, those other functions would not work properly.

# It allows the compiler to do whatever special optimizations it pleases on calls to these functions, without the possibility that they may have been redefined by the user. Some library facilities, such as those for dealing with variadic arguments (see section A.2 Variadic Functions) and non-local exits (see section 23. Non-Local Exits), actually require a considerable amount of cooperation on the part of the C compiler, and with respect to the implementation, it might be easier for the compiler to treat these as built-in parts of the language.

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