Is it possible that emacs shows real formulas in the editor if they are written in Latex or similiar? I am asking because it would be much more readable if you are coding (in lets say python or C++) and the comments contain real formulas instead of something like this
// Calculate average for $\mu_1 = \frac{1}{n} ~ \sum_{1=i}^n ~ x_i$
Is there a plugin which compiles Latex code in a comment to a picture and display it in the editor?
Yes. See pretty-symbols package. It can look like this, for example, when coding Python, or any other language:
TeXfrag texfrag shows doxygen-formulas embraced by \f[display formula\f] or \f$embedded formula\f$ as images.
The regular expressions and also the functions for parsing the formulas can be customized.
TeXfrag works by:
The context menus of preview work for the images in the source code buffer.
There is also a minor-mode menu which allows you to generate the images for the full buffer or just the images around point.
Example: The upper buffer shows a section of a doxygen-comment in a c-file with overlaid images for the equation fragments the lower buffer shows the same section with the overlays removed.
EDIT: Note that TeXfrag has been renamed to texfrag to fulfill the requirements of melpa. texfrag has been reviewed and accepted by melpa. If you have melpa in package-archives you can install texfrag via package-install.
It seems to me that an actual image would be more trouble than it's worth in c++-mode or python-mode. It could work in org-mode though, which has a mechanism for storing the images and refreshing them. Even then, it's awkward for scrolling if the image has a large height.
But you can still fontify bits if you want. For instance, here's my setup for font-locking doxygen tags in C++:
(defface font-lock-doxygen-face
'((nil (:foreground "SaddleBrown" :background "#f7f7f7")))
"Special face to highlight doxygen tags such as <tt>...</tt>
and <code>...</code>."
:group 'font-lock-highlighting-faces)
(font-lock-add-keywords
'c++-mode
'(("\\(<\\(?:code\\|tt\\)>\"?\\)\\([^<]*?\\)\\(\"?</\\(?:code\\|tt\\)>\\)"
(0 (prog1 ()
(let* ((expr (match-string-no-properties 2))
(expr-len (length expr)))
(if (eq 1 expr-len)
(compose-region (match-beginning 0)
(match-end 0)
(aref expr 0))
(compose-region (match-beginning 1)
(1+ (match-end 1))
(aref expr 0))
(compose-region (1- (match-beginning 3))
(match-end 3)
(aref expr (1- expr-len)))))))
(0 'font-lock-doxygen-face t))))
It will replace <tt>foo</tt> and <code>bar</code> with colored symbols.
Another option to consider is the latex-math-preview package. It allows one to view "real formulas in the editor" in a separate buffer (or to save the formula image to a file). Simply invoke latex-math-preview-expression while the point is on an expression.
