both the xml and the json decoders have a bug (fix pending). loading saved odb 
from xml and json file did not truncate arrays in odb to the size of arrays in 
the file. for example, if /example/double_array has size 20 in odb, but size 5 
in xml or json file, after loading the file, array size is still 20.

this is unexpected: after loading an odb save file we expect odb to return to 
same state as when odb save file was created. we do not expect some arrays to 
have half of their elements restored from file and half their elements left 
unchanged.

save and restore from .odb file does not have this problem.

I think this is a bug and I committed (but did not yet push) a fix for both xml 
and json odb decoder.

I have run this problem while writing the new history panel editor, where 
deleting variables did not work because json rpc db_paste() was not truncating 
any arrays.

I am still finishing up the last few bits of the new history panel editor, and 
there is a bit of time to discuss and comment this odb change before I push it 
to midas.

K.O.