Question about filesystems and general programming

Therickaman

I don't even know what category to post this question in. This question is largely theoretical, and I'm sure a subject of some computer science PhD's dissertation, which I don't care to read at this moment.

I've been reading about xfs filesystems vs. ext4 filesystems. From what I can understand, ext4 is certainly robust and fast (which is why I pick this one). Again, this question is theoretical though. For someone who can be considered a professional computer programmer, which filesystem is best?

For example, I am a mathematician. I program all the time, and sometimes the algorithms I program can run for even months. When computing on this type of scale, even the smallest speedups make a difference. Is xfs (which I think is my conclusion here) fastest for this type of programming? In what types of programs or algorithms could it make a difference?

To me, it should really only matter when using a lot file I/O. Which is certainly what a mathematician would probably need most for long running programs. Hence, my conclusion that xfs might be best for me (although, I am still using ext4).

Are there any gurus/nerds that care to share their opinion?