Q:

Adding a column - please improve my code

Pretty new to SQL Server.  I tried to find a way to easily add a new column to a table.  It's just taking an existing date column and giving it a different format.  The only way I could get it to work was to create a new table, then drop the old table, and rename the new table.. Very inefficient surely
Use [Manipulate MC BS]
select*,
 CONVERT(date,[Time_stamp], 103) AS [Date Fixed]
into [Website Interactions - Raw2]
from [Website Interactions - Raw]
drop table [Website Interactions - Raw]
Use [Manipulate MC BS]
Go
sp_RENAME 'Website Interactions - Raw2','Website Interactions - Raw'
Go

How can I do this without creating a new table? 
Thanks! 
Lucas

A:

I think you should just add a computed column.   These take up no additional storage space, but will allow you to see the result.   The function is "build-in" to the table, kind of like having a view within the table.   You can read about them here. 
In your case, you would do:
ALTER TABLE
    ADD COLUMN [Date Fixed] AS CONVERT(date,[Time_stamp], 103);

This is very convenient.   If you add new rows or change the data in [Time_stamp], the value of [Date Fixed] will automatically change.