Is the order of declaration very important in Config.xml file?

Question

Is the order in which we declare various parameter's, settings .. in config.xml file very strict , such as

adminhtml-layout> tag should always come before adminhtml-menu> tag?

is it that strict or order of declarations can be varied and magento automatically detects it.

which way is the right one?

Answer 1

There is no restriction for the order. Just remember to keep the correct paths.
For example config->global->models can be placed anywhere, but it has to have this path.
All the config files are merged into one large xml that is parsed when needed by using tag1->tag2->....