You can define something like that:
\def\eq$#1${\begin{equation}#1\end{equation}}
\eq$
a(b+c)=ab+ac,
\label{distriblaw}
$
and you have both shorthand and highlighting!
(Read Knuth's TeXbook rather than LaTeX tutorials to know how to define commands properly. ;-) )
Here are some more of my own definitions:
\def\eq#1$$#2$${\begin{equation#1}#2\end{equation#1}}
\long\def\subeq#1{\begin{subequations}#1\end{subequations}}
\def\Split$$#1$${\begin{split}#1\end{split}}
\def\Align#1$$#2$${\begin{align#1}#2\end{align#1}}
\def\Aligned#1{\begin{aligned}#1\end{aligned}}
\def\Gather#1$$#2$${\begin{gather#1}#2\end{gather#1}}
\def\Gathered#1{\begin{gathered}#1\end{gathered}}
\def\Multline#1$$#2$${\begin{multline#1}#2\end{multline#1}}
Examples:
\Align*$$
a&=b+c,
\\
e&=fg.
$$
\Align at$${2}
a&=b,&c&=d,
\label{eq1}
\\
e&=f,&g&=h.
\label{eq2}
$$
\label. Maintenance of compact code is harder. – egreg Jul 11 '13 at 19:38