now threading is functional, but plugins are suddenly way to huge

plugins/date.py

@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
 import time
+import threading
 
 
-def execute(config, section):
-    fmt = config.get(section, 'format')
-    result = dict()
-    if config.has_option(section, 'color'):
-        result['color'] = config.get(section, 'color')
-    result['full_text'] = time.strftime(fmt)
-    return result
+class PluginThread(threading.Thread):
+    def __init__(self, section, config, thread_id):
+        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
+        self.threadID = thread_id
+        self.date_format = config.get(section, 'format')
+        self.status = dict()
+        if config.has_option(section, 'color'):
+            self.status['color'] = config.get(section, 'color')
+        self.freq = 1
+
+    def run(self):
+        while True:
+            self.status['full_text'] = time.strftime(self.date_format)
+            time.sleep(self.freq)

plugins/ping.py

@@ -4,22 +4,20 @@ import time
 import threading
 
 
-class ConnTest(threading.Thread):
-    def __init__(self, threadID, name):
+class PluginThread(threading.Thread):
+    def __init__(self, section, config, thread_id):
         threading.Thread.__init__(self)
-        self.threadID = threadID
-        self.name = name
-        self.hosts = list()
-        self.status = 'n/a'
-        self.freq = int()
+        self.threadID = thread_id
+        self.hosts = config.get(section, 'hosts').split(',')
+        self.title = config.get(section, 'title')
+        self.status = dict()
+        self.freq = 5
+        self.format_status('n/a')
 
-    def configure(self, hosts, freq=5):
-        self.hosts = hosts.split(',')
-        self.freq = freq
+    def format_status(self, state):
+        self.status['full_text'] = self.title + ': ' + state
 
     def run(self):
-        global is_running
-        is_running = True
         while True:
             random.shuffle(self.hosts)
             try:
@@ -27,23 +25,10 @@ class ConnTest(threading.Thread):
                     fping = 'fping -q -c1 -t100 ' + host + ' &>/dev/null'
                     response = os.system(fping)
                     if response == 0:
-                        self.status = 'on'
+                        self.format_status('on')
                         break
-                    self.status = 'off'
+                    self.format_status('off')
 
             except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit):
                 break
             time.sleep(self.freq)
-
-is_running = False
-ping_object = ConnTest(1, 'test_network')
-
-
-def execute(config, section):
-    result = dict()
-    global ping_object
-    if is_running is False:
-        ping_object.configure(config.get(section, 'hosts'), 10)
-        ping_object.start()
-    result['full_text'] = config.get(section, 'title') + ' ' + ping_object.status
-    return result