A processor has an instruction set that defines the basic operations it can perform. An instruction set includes instructions, registers, addressing modes, and memory architecture. Two processors are only compatible if they have the same instruction set. The primary responsibility of a CPU is to execute instructions that make up a program. It does this through an instruction cycle that involves fetching an instruction from memory, decoding it, executing the operation, and storing the results back in memory. Instructions can perform memory transfers, arithmetic, logic, and control operations. A CPU's performance is measured by the number of instructions it can execute per second.