Looks like the answer to my question above is no. In Python 3, hash randomization was turned on (https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.3.html), so different runs of the same script produce different results, see:

```
In [1]: list(map(list, {'a' : 1, 'b' : 2}.items()))
Out[1]: [['a', 1], ['b', 2]]

In [1]: 

Restarting kernel... 


 
In [0]: 

In [1]: list(map(list, {'a' : 1, 'b' : 2}.items()))
Out[1]: [['b', 2], ['a', 1]]
```