Difference between polish and glaze?

So would you still use a compound before using the polish, or is the polish considered a compound and you could skip the compound step all together and just go polish and wax?

Hey there Auto detailing community!

I’ve only just started getting into detailing and I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what’s the difference between a compound vs a polish? To my understanding, a polish adds a shine to the cars paint and slowly cuts the paint of the car to leave it smoother and slicker. Whereas a compound is more abrasive and cuts more into the car paint, leaving less shine but is better at fixing up scratches and unevenness? But with all the different answers online I am quite confused by all this stuff. The main products I was looking on getting was the meguiars ultimate compound, meguiars ultimate liquid polish or the turtle wax hybrid solution ceramic polish. Just wanted to make sure I don’t purchase the wrong product :). Some background story: my car does have a few scratches as well as water marks so I am definitely leaning towards the compound, but have also heard that the higher abrasion may be harmful in the long run? Please could someone give me some clarity :)