sS replaceStarsWithCountingDollarVars(S s) {
  ret join(replaceStarsWithCountingDollarVars(javaTokWithAllBrackets_cached(s)));
}

static LS replaceStarsWithCountingDollarVars(LS tok) {
  int varCounter = 0;
  tok = cloneList(tok);
  for (int i = 1; i < l(tok); i += 2)
    if (eq(tok.get(i), "*"))
      tok.set(i, "$" + (++varCounter));
  ret tok;
}