Really?
https://www.typotheque.com/articles/hinting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_hinting
This may show my age....
Ok, back in the 80s, when I started to play with fonts, there were only 2 types of fonts: Postscript Type 1 and Postscript Type 3 that were available for retail sale. Type 1 fonts were always superior to Type 3 fonts, because the "hinting" in the Type I file produced superior printed output at smaller point sizes, unsually output less than 9 point. At the time, Adobe wouldn't tell anyone how to make a Type I font, so everyone except Adobe made Type 3 fonts. When Apple released TrueType and offered the font specs for free, Adobe immediately responded by releasing the Type I font spec for everyone to use, and released Adobe Type Manager, to render fonts on screen better.
Type 3 fonts have fallen by the wayside. Heck they're not even supported by either Windows or Mac any more. But they did have one cool feature. You could specify, shading, color in fill pattern in Type 3 fonts. Of course you could get around this problem by using "Convert To Paths.." in Adobe Ilustrator. I remember using Type 3 fonts back in the day that had gradient fills in them and other cool effects. A lot creepy halloween fonts were done that way,
Back then, the best you could get out of laser printer was 300 dpi, so hinting was important in making small point sizes look their best.
I guess font hinting and low/high resolution has changed it's meeting over time. With most printers being 1200x1200 dpi these days, I guess print hinting isn't nearly as important as screen hinting.