OOP-properties vs. variables

hi all-

i’m back, and trying to suss out some OOP methods in Robert Penner’s excellent book (i highly recommed it!) :thumb:

my question is in how he is declaring properties inside of a MC like this:

[AS]
this.begin=100;
this.finish=220;
[/AS]

which i understand to be set as a property of that MC. normally, i would declare them as simply:
[AS]
begin=100;
finish=220;
[/AS]

as i’m still trying to figure out the ‘new’ MX methods, what’s the advantage here that i’m missing? is it just a scope issue, or are they easier to call this way, or is it something else?

thx again,
-mojo