wl32/wl24 means that if someone purchases the ticket now his position in the waitlist will be 24th and it is as a result of cancellation of cnf tickets and waitlisted tickets purchased earlier. Had there been no cancellations of cnf or earlier purchased wl ticket, the position of one who purchases the ticket now would have been 32nd. So 24 is the current position and 32 is the original position.
In order to ensure that you get cnf ticket the best option is to book the ticket early, 90 days before the date of journey as soon as the reservation for the date has been made available by the system. Now if you buy your ticket 3/4 days before the journey...
more... the possibility of getting cnf ticket gets reduced to a great extent. If you are lucky you may get cnf ticket when so few days remain before the date of journey.
If cnf tickets are available in the general quota, go for it. Otherwise you have to buy wl or RAC tickets, and wait for it to get cnf or get RAC status. You can also go for tatkal if the possibility of confirmation of wl ticket is bleak.