The document discusses the open closed principle of object-oriented programming and design, which states that software entities like classes should be open for extension but closed for modification. This means that once a class is complete, its implementation can only be modified to fix errors, and new features require creating a new class rather than changing the existing one. An example is given to illustrate how applying the principle avoids issues that can arise from modifying existing classes, like breaking single responsibility, tests, APIs, and applications.