I was always taught that holding the hand brake at any point other than parking the car (or in an emergency or doing fancy tricks for TV) was simply a newbie/learning move. The handbrake (parking/emergency brake) has very little stopping power when compared to the front/rear discs when power is applied through the hydraulic system.

On hills I just use the normal brake and leave the car in neutral. When it's time to go, I use the clutch and the accelerator. The car doesn't drop back. Well, it did when I was first learning (see above).

Every car I've ever owned has been manual and I don't have any plans to change that so long as they're available. I suppose this may change if/when moving onto a different power plant such as electric.