diff --git a/base/LineEdit.jl b/base/LineEdit.jl
index 6e7b23c211b6de..59c9daaca8a841 100644
--- a/base/LineEdit.jl
+++ b/base/LineEdit.jl
@@ -1325,11 +1325,11 @@ AnyDict(
         i = position(buf)
         if i != 0
             c = buf.data[i]
-            if c == '\n' || c == '\t' ||
+            if c == UInt8('\n') || c == UInt8('\t') ||
                # hack to allow path completion in cmds
                # after a space, e.g., `cd <tab>`, while still
                # allowing multiple indent levels
-               (c == ' ' && i > 3 && buf.data[i-1] == ' ')
+               (c == UInt8(' ') && i > 3 && buf.data[i-1] == ' ')
                 edit_insert(s, " "^4)
                 return
             end
diff --git a/base/REPL.jl b/base/REPL.jl
index bf407d1da98522..9d96ae18f0c265 100644
--- a/base/REPL.jl
+++ b/base/REPL.jl
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ function hist_from_file(hp, file)
         while !isempty(line)
             push!(lines, chomp(line[2:end]))
             eof(file) && break
-            ch = Base.peek(file)
+            ch = Char(Base.peek(file))
             ch == ' '  && error(munged_history_message, countlines)
             ch != '\t' && break
             line = hist_getline(file)
diff --git a/base/char.jl b/base/char.jl
index 319e4b35257b89..75105b174b6748 100644
--- a/base/char.jl
+++ b/base/char.jl
@@ -30,12 +30,7 @@ isempty(c::Char) = false
 in(x::Char, y::Char) = x == y
 
 ==(x::Char, y::Char) = UInt32(x) == UInt32(y)
-==(x::Char, y::Integer) = UInt32(x) == y
-==(x::Integer, y::Char) = x == UInt32(y)
-
-isless(x::Char, y::Char)    = isless(UInt32(x), UInt32(y))
-isless(x::Char, y::Integer) = isless(UInt32(x), y)
-isless(x::Integer, y::Char) = isless(x, UInt32(y))
+isless(x::Char, y::Char) = UInt32(x) < UInt32(y)
 
 -(x::Char, y::Char) = Int(x) - Int(y)
 -(x::Char, y::Integer) = Char(Int32(x) - Int32(y))
diff --git a/base/datafmt.jl b/base/datafmt.jl
index e25dcf29bf6d73..062c07e2310b15 100644
--- a/base/datafmt.jl
+++ b/base/datafmt.jl
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ const offs_chunk_size = 5000
 countlines(f::AbstractString, eol::Char='\n') = open(io->countlines(io,eol), f)::Int
 function countlines(io::IO, eol::Char='\n')
     isascii(eol) || throw(ArgumentError("only ASCII line terminators are supported"))
+    aeol = UInt8(eol)
     a = Array(UInt8, 8192)
     nl = 0
     while !eof(io)
         nb = readbytes!(io, a)
         @simd for i=1:nb
-            @inbounds nl += a[i] == eol
+            @inbounds nl += a[i] == aeol
         end
     end
     nl
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 1bee11aa391af6..5947fc523ea456 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1073,6 +1073,11 @@ end
 @deprecate bitunpack(B::BitArray) Array(B)
 @deprecate bitpack(A::AbstractArray) BitArray(A)
 
+@deprecate ==(x::Char, y::Integer)      UInt32(x) == y
+@deprecate ==(x::Integer, y::Char)      x == UInt32(y)
+@deprecate isless(x::Char, y::Integer)  isless(UInt32(x), y)
+@deprecate isless(x::Integer, y::Char)  isless(x, UInt32(y))
+
 # During the 0.5 development cycle, do not add any deprecations below this line
 # To be deprecated in 0.6
 
diff --git a/base/float.jl b/base/float.jl
index 50da2e0cdaee1e..e199c6565f1711 100644
--- a/base/float.jl
+++ b/base/float.jl
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ hash(x::UInt64,  h::UInt) = hx(x, Float64(x), h)
 hash(x::Int64,   h::UInt) = hx(reinterpret(UInt64,abs(x)), Float64(x), h)
 hash(x::Float64, h::UInt) = isnan(x) ? (hx_NaN $ h) : hx(box(UInt64,fptoui(unbox(Float64,abs(x)))), x, h)
 
-hash(x::Union{Bool,Char,Int8,UInt8,Int16,UInt16,Int32,UInt32}, h::UInt) = hash(Int64(x), h)
+hash(x::Union{Bool,Int8,UInt8,Int16,UInt16,Int32,UInt32}, h::UInt) = hash(Int64(x), h)
 hash(x::Float32, h::UInt) = hash(Float64(x), h)
 
 ## precision, as defined by the effective number of bits in the mantissa ##
diff --git a/base/markdown/Common/block.jl b/base/markdown/Common/block.jl
index b5d715991e23c6..7a3813e6c45ed7 100644
--- a/base/markdown/Common/block.jl
+++ b/base/markdown/Common/block.jl
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ function list(stream::IO, block::MD)
                 c = read(stream, Char)
                 if c == '\n'
                     eof(stream) && break
-                    next = peek(stream)
+                    next = Char(peek(stream)) # ok since we only compare with ASCII
                     if next == '\n'
                         break
                     else
diff --git a/base/markdown/Julia/interp.jl b/base/markdown/Julia/interp.jl
index eecfcb09b9487c..4134c06362b78a 100644
--- a/base/markdown/Julia/interp.jl
+++ b/base/markdown/Julia/interp.jl
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ end
 
 function interpinner(stream::IO, greedy = false)
     startswith(stream, '$') || return
-    (eof(stream) || peek(stream) in whitespace) && return
+    (eof(stream) || peek(stream) in whitespace8) && return
     try
         return Base.parse(stream::IOBuffer, greedy = greedy)
     catch e
diff --git a/base/markdown/parse/parse.jl b/base/markdown/parse/parse.jl
index 79b5d22efea46a..5df7ff71884b5e 100644
--- a/base/markdown/parse/parse.jl
+++ b/base/markdown/parse/parse.jl
@@ -51,7 +51,9 @@ function parseinline(stream::IO, md::MD, config::Config)
     content = []
     buffer = IOBuffer()
     while !eof(stream)
-        char = peek(stream)
+        # FIXME: this is broken if we're looking for non-ASCII
+        # characters because peek only returns a single byte.
+        char = Char(peek(stream))
         if haskey(config.inner, char) &&
                 (inner = parseinline(stream, md, config.inner[char])) !== nothing
             c = takebuf_string(buffer)
diff --git a/base/markdown/parse/util.jl b/base/markdown/parse/util.jl
index 3eca2c9f9f7948..3f847113b57aa5 100644
--- a/base/markdown/parse/util.jl
+++ b/base/markdown/parse/util.jl
@@ -11,12 +11,13 @@ macro dotimes(n, body)
 end
 
 const whitespace = " \t\r"
+const whitespace8 = map(UInt8,collect(whitespace))
 
 """
 Skip any leading whitespace. Returns io.
 """
 function skipwhitespace(io::IO; newlines = true)
-    while !eof(io) && (peek(io) in whitespace || (newlines && peek(io) == '\n'))
+    while !eof(io) && (peek(io) in whitespace8 || (newlines && peek(io) == UInt8('\n')))
         read(io, Char)
     end
     return io
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ function startswith(stream::IO, s::AbstractString; eat = true, padding = false,
 end
 
 function startswith(stream::IO, c::Char; eat = true)
-    if !eof(stream) && peek(stream) == c
+    if !eof(stream) && peek(stream) == UInt8(c)
         eat && read(stream, Char)
         return true
     else
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ function parse_inline_wrapper(stream::IO, delimiter::AbstractString; rep = false
         startswith(stream, delimiter^n) || return nothing
         while startswith(stream, delimiter); n += 1; end
         !rep && n > nmin && return nothing
-        !eof(stream) && peek(stream) in whitespace && return nothing
+        !eof(stream) && peek(stream) in whitespace8 && return nothing
 
         buffer = IOBuffer()
         while !eof(stream)
diff --git a/base/precompile.jl b/base/precompile.jl
index 6fa7a99d8f1f98..471cfca98a2f3d 100644
--- a/base/precompile.jl
+++ b/base/precompile.jl
@@ -495,6 +495,6 @@ precompile(Base.set_valid_processes, (Array{Int, 1}, ))
 
 
 # Speed up repl help
-sprint(Markdown.term, @doc mean)
+# sprint(Markdown.term, @doc mean)
 sprint(Docs.repl_search, "mean")
 sprint(Docs.repl_corrections, "meen")
diff --git a/base/printf.jl b/base/printf.jl
index 0546edf073cb03..e51fedd52f17c5 100644
--- a/base/printf.jl
+++ b/base/printf.jl
@@ -458,7 +458,7 @@ function gen_e(flags::ASCIIString, width::Int, precision::Int, c::Char, inside_g
     # print sign
     '+' in flags ? push!(blk.args, :(write(out, neg?'-':'+'))) :
     ' ' in flags ? push!(blk.args, :(write(out, neg?'-':' '))) :
-                    push!(blk.args, :(neg && write(out, '-')))
+                   push!(blk.args, :(neg && write(out, '-')))
     # print zero padding
     if padding !== nothing && !('-' in flags) && '0' in flags
         push!(blk.args, pad(width, padding, '0'))
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ function gen_e(flags::ASCIIString, width::Int, precision::Int, c::Char, inside_g
     if precision > 0
         if inside_g && !('#' in flags)
             push!(blk.args, :(endidx = $ndigits;
-                              while endidx > 1 && DIGITS[endidx] == '0'
+                              while endidx > 1 && DIGITS[endidx] == 0x30
                                   endidx -= 1
                               end;
                               if endidx > 1
diff --git a/test/char.jl b/test/char.jl
index d2bf335b8c0470..f22aa536315bc2 100644
--- a/test/char.jl
+++ b/test/char.jl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 #tests for /base/char.jl
 
-@test typemin(Char) == 0
+@test typemin(Char) == Char(0)
 @test ndims(Char) == 0
 @test getindex('a', 1) == 'a'
 @test_throws BoundsError getindex('a',2)
@@ -133,44 +133,44 @@ let
 
     #isless(x::Char, y::Integer) = isless(UInt32(x), y)
     for x in upperchars
-        @test isless(x, 91) == true
+        @test isless(x, Char(91)) == true
     end
 
     for x in lowerchars
-        @test isless(x, 123) == true
+        @test isless(x, Char(123)) == true
     end
 
     for x in numberchars
-        @test isless(x, 66) == true
+        @test isless(x, Char(66)) == true
     end
 
     for x in plane1_playingcards
-        @test isless(x, 127151) == true
+        @test isless(x, Char(127151)) == true
     end
 
     for x in plane2_cjkpart1
-        @test isless(x, 131088) == true
+        @test isless(x, Char(131088)) == true
     end
 
     #isless(x::Integer, y::Char) = isless(x, UInt32(y))
     for x in upperchars
-        @test isless(64, x) == true
+        @test isless(Char(64), x) == true
     end
 
     for x in lowerchars
-        @test isless(96, x) == true
+        @test isless(Char(96), x) == true
     end
 
     for x in numberchars
-        @test isless(47, x) == true
+        @test isless(Char(47), x) == true
     end
 
     for x in plane1_playingcards
-        @test isless(127135, x) == true
+        @test isless(Char(127135), x) == true
     end
 
     for x in plane2_cjkpart1
-        @test isless(131071, x) == true
+        @test isless(Char(131071), x) == true
     end
 end #end of let block
 
diff --git a/test/random.jl b/test/random.jl
index bbff7ccea5f878..a9c25cb0a75321 100644
--- a/test/random.jl
+++ b/test/random.jl
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ let mt = MersenneTwister()
     srand(mt)
     @test rand(mt, 0:3:1000) in 0:3:1000
     @test issubset(rand!(mt, Array(Int, 100), 0:3:1000), 0:3:1000)
-    coll = Any[2, UInt128(128), big(619), "string", 'c']
+    coll = Any[2, UInt128(128), big(619), "string"]
     @test rand(mt, coll) in coll
     @test issubset(rand(mt, coll, 2, 3), coll)
 
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ for rng in ([], [MersenneTwister()], [RandomDevice()])
     rand!(rng..., BitArray(5))     ::BitArray{1}
     rand!(rng..., BitArray(2, 3))  ::BitArray{2}
 
-    for T in [Base.BitInteger_types..., Bool, Char, Float16, Float32, Float64]
+    for T in [Base.BitInteger_types..., Bool, Float16, Float32, Float64]
         a0 = rand(rng..., T)       ::T
         a1 = rand(rng..., T, 5)    ::Vector{T}
         a2 = rand(rng..., T, 2, 3) ::Array{T, 2}
diff --git a/test/read.jl b/test/read.jl
index 42fc1d76c4b5e7..3406ec424451e5 100644
--- a/test/read.jl
+++ b/test/read.jl
@@ -383,9 +383,9 @@ f = joinpath(dir, "test.txt")
 open(io->write(io, "123"), f, "w")
 f1 = open(f)
 f2 = Base.Filesystem.open(f, Base.Filesystem.JL_O_RDONLY)
-@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == '1'
-@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == '2'
-@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == '3'
+@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == UInt8('1')
+@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == UInt8('2')
+@test read(f1, UInt8) == read(f2, UInt8) == UInt8('3')
 @test_throws EOFError read(f1, UInt8)
 @test_throws EOFError read(f2, UInt8)
 close(f1)
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index 0818bdcbfaa39b..d446ae2b17ea1a 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ let out = Pipe(), echo = `$exename -f -e 'print(STDOUT, " 1\t", readstring(STDIN
     wait(ready) # wait for writer task to be ready before using `out`
     @test nb_available(out) == 0
     @test endswith(readuntil(out, '1'), '1')
-    @test read(out, UInt8) == '\t'
+    @test Char(read(out, UInt8)) == '\t'
     c = UInt8[0]
     @test c == read!(out, c)
     Base.wait_readnb(out, 1)
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ let out = Pipe(), echo = `$exename -f -e 'print(STDOUT, " 1\t", readstring(STDIN
     @test !iswritable(out)
     @test !isopen(out)
     @test nb_available(out) == 0
-    @test c == ['w']
+    @test c == UInt8['w']
     @test lstrip(ln2) == "1\thello\n"
     @test ln1 == "orld\n"
     @test isempty(read(out))
diff --git a/test/strings/basic.jl b/test/strings/basic.jl
index b0258852d45fe1..7bb8698634552a 100644
--- a/test/strings/basic.jl
+++ b/test/strings/basic.jl
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ str = "abcdef\uff\uffff\u10ffffABCDEF"
 @test typeof(lowercase(utf16(str))) == UTF16String
 @test typeof(lowercase(utf32(str))) == UTF32String
 
-foomap(ch) = (ch > 65)
+foomap(ch) = (ch > Char(65))
 foobar(ch) = Char(0xd800)
 foobaz(ch) = reinterpret(Char, typemax(UInt32))
 @test_throws UnicodeError map(foomap, utf16(str))
diff --git a/test/unicode/utf32.jl b/test/unicode/utf32.jl
index 53e7de500ed3e9..20ff183e023a94 100644
--- a/test/unicode/utf32.jl
+++ b/test/unicode/utf32.jl
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 u8 = "\U10ffff\U1d565\U1d7f6\U00066\U2008a"
 u32 = utf32(u8)
 @test sizeof(u32) == 20
-@test length(u32.data) == 6 && u32.data[end] == Char(0)
+@test length(u32.data) == 6 && u32.data[end] == 0
 @test length(u32) == 5
 @test utf8(u32) == u8
 @test collect(u8) == collect(u32)
@@ -181,13 +181,13 @@ for (fun, S, T) in ((utf16, UInt16, UTF16String), (utf32, UInt32, UTF32String))
     str = "abcd\0\uff\u7ff\u7fff\U7ffff"
     tst = SubString(convert(T,str),4)
     cmp = Char['d','\0','\uff','\u7ff','\u7fff','\U7ffff']
-    cmpch = Char['d','\0','\uff','\u7ff','\u7fff','\U7ffff','\0']
+    cmp32 = UInt32['d','\0','\uff','\u7ff','\u7fff','\U7ffff','\0']
     cmp16 = UInt16[0x0064,0x0000,0x00ff,0x07ff,0x7fff,0xd9bf,0xdfff,0x0000]
     x = fun(tst)
-    cmpx = (S == UInt16 ? cmp16 : cmpch)
+    cmpx = (S == UInt16 ? cmp16 : cmp32)
     @test typeof(tst) == SubString{T}
     @test convert(T, tst) == str[4:end]
-    S != UInt32 && @test convert(Vector{Char}, x) == cmp
+    @test convert(Vector{Char}, x) == cmp
     # Vector{T} / Array{T}
     @test convert(Vector{S}, x) == cmpx
     @test convert(Array{S}, x) == cmpx
@@ -223,9 +223,9 @@ let str = ascii("this ")
     @test typeof(p8) == Ptr{UInt8}
     @test unsafe_load(p8,1) == 0x74
     @test typeof(p16) == Ptr{UInt16}
-    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x0074
+    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x74
     @test typeof(p32) == Ptr{UInt32}
-    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 't'
+    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 0x74
     pa  = pointer(str, 2)
     p8  = pointer(u8,  2)
     p16 = pointer(u16, 2)
@@ -235,9 +235,9 @@ let str = ascii("this ")
     @test typeof(p8) == Ptr{UInt8}
     @test unsafe_load(p8,1) == 0x68
     @test typeof(p16) == Ptr{UInt16}
-    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x0068
+    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x68
     @test typeof(p32) == Ptr{UInt32}
-    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 'h'
+    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 0x68
     sa  = SubString{ASCIIString}(str, 3, 5)
     s8  = SubString{UTF8String}(u8,   3, 5)
     s16 = SubString{UTF16String}(u16, 3, 5)
@@ -251,9 +251,9 @@ let str = ascii("this ")
     @test typeof(p8) == Ptr{UInt8}
     @test unsafe_load(p8,1) == 0x69
     @test typeof(p16) == Ptr{UInt16}
-    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x0069
+    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x69
     @test typeof(p32) == Ptr{UInt32}
-    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 'i'
+    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 0x69
     pa  = pointer(sa, 2)
     p8  = pointer(s8,  2)
     p16 = pointer(s16, 2)
@@ -263,9 +263,9 @@ let str = ascii("this ")
     @test typeof(p8) == Ptr{UInt8}
     @test unsafe_load(p8,1) == 0x73
     @test typeof(p16) == Ptr{UInt16}
-    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x0073
+    @test unsafe_load(p16,1) == 0x73
     @test typeof(p32) == Ptr{UInt32}
-    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 's'
+    @test unsafe_load(p32,1) == 0x73
 end
 
 @test isvalid(Char['f','o','o','b','a','r'])