This ensures that whatever locks are acquired aren't held onto until the
end of the transaction (= after _all_ rows have been updated). Timing
wise there's also no difference between using a transaction and not
using one.
By passing a block to update_column_in_batches() one can now customize
the queries executed. This in turn can be used to only update a specific
set of rows instead of simply all the rows in the table.
These helpers can be used to perform migrations without taking down the
entire application.
For example, the method "add_column_with_default" can be used to add a
new column with a default value without locking the entire table.
Yorick Peterse