[SciPy-dev] time to import scipy?

[Joseph VanAndel]

When I import scipy (or just scipy.io) on a CentOS 5 64 bit computer, 4 
processor, 3.00 Ghz server, with Python 2.5.1, it takes ~10 seconds of 
elapsed time.

When I'm developing and testing a Python script, I typically start the 
python interpreter dozens of times, so I concerned by how much time I 
spend waiting for the Python to startup.

1) Is there anything I can do to speed up the import of scipy?

2) What debugging techniques do you  suggest that avoid restarting the 
interpreter?  For example, do you routinely use ipython and 
reload(my_module)