This is a noob question, but networking isn't my forte. For example if I have an ipv4 server and an ipv6 client connects, what would their ip show as? Also if I wanted to setup a socket connection for example, does my server have to be ipv6 too, or does the code just need to be able to handle it.
I have researched how code handling works, but nothing says if the server has to be ipv6, itself.
IPv4 and IPv6 are not directly compatible. In most installations, a client will have both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address, and will use whichever one is appropriate to connect to a server. That is, they will use their IPv4 address to connect to an IPv4 server, IPv6 to connect to an IPv6 server, and will preferentially choose one of the two — usually IPv6 — if a server supports both.
IPv4-only clients cannot connect to IPv6 servers. Unless you intend to provide a service to IPv6 users only, you will need to provide your service on IPv4, or on both protocols, to support IPv4 clients.