Difference between 'imp' and 'importlib'

[Frank Millman]

Hi all

I need the ability to execute a function by parsing a string containing the 
full path to the function. The string is multi-dotted. The last element is 
the function name, the second-last is the name of the module containing the 
function, and the balance is the path to the module.

I have been using 'import imp', and then 'imp.find_module' and 
'imp.load_module'. It works, but I noticed that it would reload the module 
if it was already loaded.

As an alternative, I tried 'import importlib', and then 
'importlib.import_module'. This also works, and does not reload the module.

So my question is, is there any practical difference between the two 
approaches? What about 'There should be one-- and preferably only 
one --obvious way to do it'?

Frank Millman