This volume is based on the workshop "Unifying Theory and Practice in Distributed Systems" held in Schloß Dagstuhl, Germany in September 1994. During the past 20 years, a substantial theoretical and practical base has evolved in the area of distributed computing. However, this work has been done by largely disjoint communities of researchers; this workshop brought together established experts from both worlds. The volume contains 17 full papers refereed and revised after the workshop so that they reflect original research enriched by insights gained through discussions at the workshop. Among the issues treated are paradigms and concepts, fundamental algorithms and principles, fault-tolerance, real-time, system structures, large case aspects and others.