Let's try to literally define batch processing:
- Batch: Bringing similar (or related) things together
- Processing: Performing some action or actions that results in the change of state
With that in mind, batch processing literally means performing actions on a group of things resulting in a new group of possibly different things.
If we look around us, we're doing things in batches without even realizing that we're doing it. Let's take making a smoothie for breakfast as an example. You typically bring together some fruits and/or vegetables, along with other ingredients, put them in a smoothie maker, and blend them together.
Now, if you look at the previous sentence, you realize that it fits perfectly into the definition of batch processing presented earlier.
Now, let's take the same approach and apply it in our daily IT work. When you perform a simple fictitious query like this:
SELECT user_name, dept_name from User, Dept WHERE user_id=1 and dept_id=1You are essentially...