1. An association mechanism data structure for dynamically associating a service representation object with a servant object at run time in a distributed object computing system, said distributed object computing system incorporating a plurality of groups of object services, the association mechanism data structure being embodied in a computer-readable medium and comprising: at least one service representation class representing a single one of the groups of object services, the service representation class arranged to provide functionality unique to said single one of the groups of object services via an instantiated service representation object at runtime; at last one servant base class arranged to be associated with servant objects that are created at run time; and a linking mechanism arranged to form a run time link between the service representation object and a selected one of said servant objects at run time such that the servant object may use the functionality provided by said single one of the groups of object services by way of the service representation object.