The reader now constructs strings as documented according to the value of
lw:*default-character-element-type*
. For example:
CL-USER 1 > (set-default-character-element-type 'simple-char)
SIMPLE-CHAR
CL-USER 2 > (type-of "ABC")
SIMPLE-TEXT-STRING
In LispWorks 6.0 and earlier versions a bug caused the string reader to make a smaller string where possible (a
simple-base-string
in the example above).
LispWorks Release Notes and Installation Guide - 23 Dec 2011