Batch Loading

Medium — good to knowBackend

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

Batch loading is fetching many things in one call instead of one at a time. Instead of asking 'give me user 1... give me user 2... give me user 3...', you ask 'give me users 1, 2, and 3.' One round trip instead of three. It's buying groceries in one trip instead of going back for each item.

Real Talk

Batch loading is an optimization technique that combines multiple individual data requests into a single bulk operation. It reduces database round trips, network overhead, and connection usage. Implemented via DataLoader in GraphQL, bulk API endpoints, SQL IN clauses, or batch processing in ORMs. Critical for resolving N+1 query problems.

Show Me The Code

-- Instead of N individual queries:
-- SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1;
-- SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 2;
-- SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 3;

-- One batched query:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE id IN (1, 2, 3);

When You'll Hear This

"Batch load the related entities to avoid the N+1 problem." / "Our ORM supports batch loading with .include() to eager-load associations."

Related Terms

Data Loader

DataLoader batches and caches database calls in GraphQL. Without it, fetching 100 users with their posts makes 101 database queries (the N+1 problem).

advancedBackend

Eager Loading

Eager loading fetches all the related data you need upfront in one or two queries.

intermediateDatabase

N+1 Problem

The N+1 problem is when your code makes 1 query to get a list of things, then N more queries to get related data for each thing.

intermediateBackend

Query Optimization

Query optimization is the art of making slow database queries fast. Add an index here, rewrite that subquery as a JOIN, fetch only the columns you need.

advancedDatabase

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