@Russell I know, that it is a multiplication sign. But read the comments. There also the multiplication sign is used instead of an equals sign. Also try executing var x * 3; You will get an error "Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token *"

@mart, that's a multiplication sign. So x didn't get initialized, just multiplied by something with the result not stored. Since x is uninitialized it's 0.

why is there even an asterisk used as an equals symbol? o.O