1. An apparatus for scheduling and dispatching client requests for execution by a server object in a heterogeneous object-oriented client/server computing environment, the apparatus comprising: a request-holding buffer having an input connected to a communications channel which channels the client requests to the apparatus, and an output; a plurality of parallel execution threads connected to the output of the buffer; and a scheduling means for distributing client requests stored in the buffer to the plurality of execution threads, characterized in that: the scheduling means places client requests held in the buffer in priority order based on a priority determining rule which takes into account the state of the plurality of execution threads and the nature of each of the held requests.