I don't know what you mean with "sugar", but the fact that several different types can represent the exact same set of possible values means that a type cannot

I don't know what you mean with "sugar", but the fact that several different types can represent the exact same set of possible values means that a type cannot be considered as just a set of possible values. > The same type, but with different states depending on the semantics of the language. This is just playing games with definitions. What you call "state" is a type in the type system of the programming language.