Is there a benefit to passing a string in your url patters vs a function instance? It seems like it could be optimized to not actually load the function until it is needed, but is this in fact true?
from django.conf.urls.defaults import *
from myapp.views import myView
urlpatterns = patterns('',
# as a string
url(r'^as-string/$', "myapp.views.myView"),
# Uploading photos
url(r'^as-instance/$', myView),
)
edit: If it's true that it doesn't import until they're needed, then it would be an optimization for memory, but non-existant functions and other errors would not be raised until you actually try to visit the url.
Of course that isn't an issue if you write tests though ;)