Abstract: A distributed computing system executes application programs which call functions, each function carrying out an operation such as read or write accessing a data file in response to an input argument generated by the calling application program. The system includes client computers for executing the application programs and server computers for executing "server programs", programs which carry out the called functions. The client and server computers communicate through a network. To make a function call, an application program running on a client computer generates an argument for the function and sends a request identifying the function to a "client gate" program also running on the client program. Each client computer stores a configuration file indicating which server star carries out each function, and which server computer can execute that server star.