Inner Import Overhead

imptest.py

import timeit

setup = """
import sys as sys_module_level
def outer_test():
    return sys_module_level.version_info
def inner_test():
    import sys
    return sys.version_info
"""

print "moduleimp:{}".format(min(timeit.repeat("outer_test()", setup, repeat=3, number=1024)))
print "innerimp: {}".format(min(timeit.repeat("inner_test()", setup, repeat=3, number=1024)))
# $ python ~/tmp/imptest.py
# moduleimp:0.000121831893921
# innerimp: 0.000499963760376