Actionscript 2.0 Classes dollar sign

What is the deal with the dollar sign in this tutorial found at mm?

3D classes tutorial

What is the purpose of the dollar sign?
Here is a sample of the code:

[AS]class com.lo9ic.Style {
private var $linealpha, $lineweight, $fillalpha : Number;
private var $linecolor, $fillcolor : String;

function Style() {
$lineweight = 0;
$linealpha = 100; $fillalpha = 100;
$linecolor = “0x000000”; $fillcolor = “0x000000”;
}

public function set linealpha(a:Number):Void {
$linealpha = a;
}[/AS]