C types — C character types
ECL defines two C types to hold its characters: ecl_base_char and ecl_character.
When ECL is built without Unicode, they both coincide and typically match unsigned char, to cover the 256 codes that are needed.
When ECL is built with Unicode, the two types are no longer equivalent, with ecl_character being larger.
For your code to be portable and future proof, use both types to really express what you intend to do.