I'm looking for a good overview of all the .NET Framework assemblies and their namespaces and how they (are supposed to) work together.
The MSDN .NET Framework Reference has a seemingly complete list of all .NET Framework Class Libraries. Of course---being the MSDN after all---this list is at best rated "border line sufficient", describing each namespace with a sentence or two.
Can you recommend a resource (book or website) to gain a broad understanding of the various bits that make up the .NET Framework?
The specific question that triggered this question was "Where does System.Collections.ObjectModel come from, what else (besides ObservableCollection<>) does it contain and where is it used?" From there the obvious extension was "What else have I missed?" leading to this search for a broader understanding of the bits of the Framework.
Prompted by a remark from Pop Catalin about "pocket books", I found Programming .NET 3.5 from O'Reilly, which looks interesting:
[The authors] uncover the common threads that unite the .NET 3.5 technologies, so you can benefit from the best practices and architectural patterns baked into the new Microsoft frameworks. The book offers a "Grand Tour" of .NET 3.5 that describes how the principal technologies can be used together, with Ajax, to build modern n-tier and service-oriented applications.
There is even a preview of the book on Safari, O'Reilly's online library. At 480 pages it probably fits only in the biggest of pockets, but then the framework is neither the slimmest piece of software on earth.
Review
I've ordered and read the book now. The book is focusing only on the new 3.5 stuff (WPF, WCF, CardSpaces, etc) and ignores everything else. Half of the book is WPF/XAML/Silverlight which I already knew. Additionally the authors often repeat source examples, once annotated and once as a "full listing" which is quite wasteful of the space in the book. Therefore I'm a bit disappointed by the book.