- Support accepting Numpy of str as input
- Support batching strings
- Core logic of batch&pad is static
- Make Pad a utility function

support for 1 specific dimension to be None, added validator

fix various CI complains

another round of CI fixes

ci

refactor parts of the code

code refactor

ci fix

comments added, fix bugs

address review comments

address review comments

review cmts

added simple perf test script

update pad code

perf imprv

Signed-off-by: leonwanghui <leon.wanghui@huawei.com>