Order of features in geoprocessing.

I have a general question about geoprocessing that will affect the way I write a script. Is the order of features in a dataset maintained throughout geoprocessing?

For instance, if I have a shapefile with three features (A, B, C), and I Buffer() them, will the output attribute table always list the buffered features as (A, B, C), or may the order change?

It may seem like a silly question, but in working with dictionaries in Python, I know the most efficient order is not always the input order.

Note that I am talking more generally than Buffer(). I am interested in all geoprocessing tools.

Thanks!