implementing a module system in a programming language - module

Question

I'm writing my own compiler and I'm struggling to implement a module system.
Can someone guide me, how should this be done? how other languages tackle this?
Also I'm trying to avoid what c and c++ do (header files).
I do like the module system in Go/Golang though.
I don't know if this is relevant, but I'm using LLVM (maybe there's a magic way to import symbols).
my initial approach:
read and parse the entry point source file ie. main.mylang.
go through the imports of main.mylang
for each import: read, parse and resolve it's imports
...
this leads to a tree structure:
main.mylang: import1.mylang, import2.mylang, import3.mylang
import1.mylang: import4.mylang, import5.mylang
import2.mylang: import6.mylang
... etc.
then I would traverse each node and copy it's symbols (functions, global variables, etc.) to the parent node's symbol table. if a parent node is null, it's an entry point file and the compiler can start output object files.
why do I think that this is bad?
it's very slow, even when compiling 3-5 source files
it's easy to cause name collisions
you have to import the entire symbol table, because the imported file's exported symbols depend on the internal ones.
for example: imagine an exported function that modifies an internal global variable
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I think your approach is really good. Compile time speed is not that important, usability is. To prevent name collisions you can use some kind of module-namespace (importname.foo() instead of just foo()) and whenever foo does not exist allow both methods. Alternatively you could insert a placeholder in the parents symbol table and whenever the user uses that name you throw a compile time error (something like ambiguous symbol).
that would look like this:
main.mylang
import module1
import module2
int main() {}
module1.mylang
import module2
void foo() {}
void bar() {}
module2.mylang
import module1
void bar() {}
void fun() {}
After finding loops, the tree would look like this:
main
├──module1
│  └──module2
└──module2
  └──module1
And a graph like this:
main
├─>main()
├─>foo() (module1)
├─>bar() (defined twice, throw error when used)
├─>fun() (module2)
├─>module1<───────────┐
│  ├─>foo() (module1) │
│  └─>bar() (module1) │
└─>import2<───────────┘
  ├─>bar() (module2)
  └─>fun() (module2)
I don't know much about llvm, but I am pretty sure normal tables are not enough to archive this. You will at least need nested tables if not even a graph like structure like I described. Also this is not possible with classical C/C++ architecture, except if you use unique identifiers as symbols and don't let the user know (like c++ function overloading). For example you could call one function __import1_bar and the other __import2_bar and whenever the user uses bar() you look up in this graph which one he wants to call. In the main function using import1.bar() will lead you to __import1_bar (follow the graph) and import2.bar() or import1.import2.bar() will lead you to __import2_bar.
Good Luck figuring that out. But it is certainly a interesting problem.