Bindings, Observers, Computed Properties: What Do I Use When?

Sometimes new users are confused about when to use computed properties, bindings and observers. Here are some guidelines to help:

1. Use computed properties to build a new property by synthesizing other properties. Computed properties should not contain application behavior, and should generally not cause any side-effects when called. Except in rare cases, multiple calls to the same computed property should always return the same value (unless the properties it depends on have changed, of course.)

2. Observers should contain behavior that reacts to changes in another property. Observers are especially useful when you need to perform some behavior after a binding has finished synchronizing.

3. Bindings are most often used to ensure objects in two different layers are always in sync. For example, you bind your views to your controller using Handlebars.