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banana problem n.
[from the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell `banana', but I don't know when to stop">[. Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare [fencepost error]). One may say `there is a banana problem' of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also [creeping elegance], [creeping featuritis]). See item 176 under [HAKMEM], which describes a banana problem in a [Dissociated Press] implementation. Also, see [one-banana problem] for a superficially similar but unrelated usage.
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