Took me a while to find out, so ill share :)

# 1.8.7 / 1.8.6 only, not 1.9.x
'a'[0] == 97

# universal 1.8.x / 1.9.x
97.chr == 'a'
97 == ?a

# by mr woeber
'a'.unpack('C*').first == 97
[97].pack('C*') == 'a'