masylum/backbone — comment on commit e779fa6e8c07eaec8a07a7191ef8f8aa05356b8a
File:  line 0
By masylum:

If you set the relationships as attributes (I've seen lots of people doing this) then you have to be careful on syncing because attributes (and your relations then) can be overrode. Also, you don't want to send relations on saving models. Attributes represent your data state, relationships don't.

If you set up the relationships as properties you are "polluting" your model/collection interface, and at some point you may end up overriding a backbone method. This is why attributes is also an object and you access it by using `get` and `set`.

My last point is that lots of people are doing it wrong. Providing at least a easy and flexible way to define relationships on your models/collections would helps lots of newcomers.