I've never seen any descriptors like that...seems like a typo.
Just to add to binky's explanation...
An ID is used for more than CSS, its a handle for that element in JavaScript as well. Its intended to be a unique identifier. If you give more than one element the same ID, the script associated with that element won't work. Of course you can assign CSS rules to it like this...
#id_name {position: absolute.....}
A class is only used in CSS and can be applied to any element, as many as you like....
.class_name {color: blue}
a.red {color: red}
CSS doesn't care if you define an ID or class the same way.
Happy Coding!