batch
A batch is a group of things handled together. People speak of a batch of cookies, a batch of paperwork, or batching errands to do them all at once.
What a model may hear
- batch processing data engineering and ETL pipelines
- group records into chunks for efficient database writes or distributed processing
- batch size machine learning training
- set how many training examples pass through the model before updating weights
- batch job operating systems and schedulers
- queue a script to run later, without user interaction, often via cron or workload managers
- batch normalization deep learning layers
- stabilize training by normalizing layer inputs across the current batch
- batch file Windows command line
- execute a sequence of commands from a .bat script
Where people and models part ways
“run this in a batch”
Meant: do this task together with others later
May be taken as: queue it as a background job or wrap it in a .bat file
Say instead: “run this later tonight along with the other reports”
“make the batch bigger”
Meant: process more items at once to save time
May be taken as: increase the neural network batch size, which can affect convergence or memory usage
Say instead: “group more records together in each processing chunk”
“batch these photos”
Meant: apply the same edit to all of them together
May be taken as: feed them as a tensor batch to an image model, possibly resizing or normalizing unexpectedly
Say instead: “apply the same filter to all these photos at once”
“send the batch to the server”
Meant: upload the group of files
May be taken as: trigger an API batch endpoint with specific size limits or async handling
Say instead: “upload these files together in one group”
Tips
- Say 'group these together' if you do not mean a technical batch operation.
- Specify 'machine learning batch size' or 'training batch' to distinguish from general grouping.
- Mention timing if you mean later: 'run tonight' beats 'run as a batch job'.
- Say 'script file' or 'command file' instead of 'batch file' unless you mean .bat.
- Add 'all at once' to clarify you want simultaneous processing, not queued background processing.
Often confused with
- bulk
- emphasizes volume, not grouping in time
- bundle
- packages things as one unit, not sequential processing
- queue
- orders items by arrival, not by intentional grouping
- epoch
- one full pass through all data, not a subset chunk
- stream
- continuous flow, not discrete grouped chunks
- script
- a file of commands, not a group of items to process