The Bindings.select*(...) family of methods use try-catch to implement null checking of "intermediate" properties. This is highly inefficient, as demonstrated by this example. Sort by the "Zip" column to see the problem.

TableWithSelectBinding.java

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.binding.Bindings;
import javafx.beans.property.ObjectProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyStringWrapper;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleObjectProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn.CellDataFeatures;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Callback;

public class TableWithSelectBinding extends Application {
    
    private static final int NUM_ROWS = 1_000_000 ;
    private static final Random RNG = new Random();

	@Override
	public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
		final TableView<Person> table = new TableView<>();
		final TableColumn<Person, String> nameCol = new TableColumn<>("Name");
		final TableColumn<Person, String> zipCol = new TableColumn<>("Zip");
		nameCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("name"));
		zipCol.setCellValueFactory(new Callback<TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Person,String>, ObservableValue<String>>() {
            @Override
            public ObservableValue<String> call(CellDataFeatures<Person, String> cdf) {
                Person person = cdf.getValue();
                
                // Bindings.selectString uses try{}catch(){} for logical checking of null values
                // This is inefficient enough to hang this example on sorting with 1,000,000 rows
                return Bindings.selectString(person.addressProperty(), "zip");  
                
                // The following is an incomplete implementation 
                // (will not update if Person.addressProperty changes)
                // but uses proper null checking and consequently runs much faster:
                
//                Address address = person.getAddress();
//                if (address == null) {
//                    return new ReadOnlyStringWrapper("");
//                } else {
//                    return address.zipProperty() ;
//                }
            }
        });
		table.getColumns().addAll(nameCol, zipCol);
		
		table.setItems(createData());
		
		final BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
		root.setCenter(table);
		final Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 400);
		primaryStage.setScene(scene);
		primaryStage.show();
	} 
	
	private ObservableList<Person> createData() {
	    List<Person> data = new ArrayList<Person>();
	    for (int i=0; i<NUM_ROWS; i++) {
	        data.add(new Person(randomString(), null));
	    }
	    return FXCollections.observableArrayList(data);
	}
	
	private String randomString() {
	    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
	    for (int i=0; i<=8; i++) {
	        sb.append((char) ('a' + RNG.nextInt(26)));
	    }
	    return sb.toString();
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		launch(args);
	}
	
	public static class Person {
	    private final StringProperty name ;
	    private final ObjectProperty<Address> address ;
	    public Person(String name, Address address) {
	        this.name = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "name", name);
	        this.address = new SimpleObjectProperty<Address>(this, "address", address);
	    }
	    public final String getName() {
	        return name.get();
	    }
	    public final void setName(String name) {
	        this.name.set(name);
	    }
	    public final StringProperty nameProperty() {
	        return name ;
	    }
	    public final Address getAddress() {
	        return address.get();
	    }
	    public final void setAddress(Address address) {
	        this.address.set(address);
	    }
	    public final ObjectProperty<Address> addressProperty() {
	        return address ;
	    }
	}
	
	public static class Address {
	    private final StringProperty zip ;
	    // other properties omitted
	    public Address(String zip) {
	        this.zip = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "zip", zip);
	    }
	    public final String getZip() {
	        return zip.get();
	    }
	    public final void setZip(String zip) {
	        this.zip.set(zip);
	    }
	    public final StringProperty zipProperty() {
	        return zip ;
	    }
	}
	
}