Applying bindings

The binding application process takes place primarily in the bindingAttributeSyntax module, which defines the ko.bindingContext class as well as the ko.applyBindings method. The high-level overview looks like this:

1. The ko.applyBindings method is called with the viewmodel.

2. A binding context is constructed using the viewmodel.

3. The binding provider is retrieved from ko.bindingProvider.instance.

4. Knockout works with the DOM tree:

   • It is passed through the binding provider's node preprocessor (except the root node)

   • The binding handlers for the node are constructed using the binding provider

   • The binding handlers are sorted by ensuring that any bindings in their after property are loaded first

   • The binding handlers are iterated through, calling each handler's init and update function.

The first three steps are pretty straightforward; even the walking algorithm is just a simple recursion that applies bindings to a node and then iterates over its children to preprocess and bind them. The real...