It's handy if you're looking for the methods definition using a regex. Instead of doing something like (in pseudo-regex):

    $[public|private|whatever-else-can-behere](FUNCTION_YOURE_LOOKING_FOR)

you can do a slightly simpler

    $(FUNCTION_YOURE_LOOKING_FOR)

Obviously your code editor/IDE should handle that, but maybe if you wanted to whip up a quick script to something a little odd, it'd be quite handy to have the function name on a separate line.