Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Remote Procedure Call
     
         (RPC) A {protocol} which allows a
        program running on one {host} to cause code to be executed on
        another host without the programmer needing to explicitly code
        for this.  RPC is an easy and popular paradigm for
        implementing the {client-server} model of {distributed
        computing}.  An RPC is initiated by the caller (client)
        sending request message to a remote system (the server) to
        execute a certain procedure using arguments supplied.  A
        result message is returned to the caller.  There are many
        variations and subtleties in various implementations,
        resulting in a variety of different (incompatible) RPC
        {protocols}.
     
        {Sun} RPC is defined in {RFC 1057} and {ONC} RPC in {RFC
        1831}.
     
        (2003-06-04)