  Automated test case generation has proven to be useful to reduce the usually
high expenses of software testing. However, several studies have also noted the
skepticism of testers regarding the comprehension of generated test suites when
compared to manually designed ones. This fact suggests that involving testers
in the test generation process could be helpful to increase their acceptance of
automatically-produced test suites. In this paper, we propose incorporating
interactive readability assessments made by a tester into EvoSuite, a
widely-known evolutionary test generation tool. Our approach, InterEvo-TR,
interacts with the tester at different moments during the search and shows
different test cases covering the same coverage target for their subjective
evaluation. The design of such an interactive approach involves a schedule of
interaction, a method to diversify the selected targets, a plan to save and
handle the readability values, and some mechanisms to customize the level of
engagement in the revision, among other aspects. To analyze the potential and
practicability of our proposal, we conduct a controlled experiment in which 39
participants, including academics, professional developers, and student
collaborators, interact with InterEvo-TR. Our results show that the strategy to
select and present intermediate results is effective for the purpose of
readability assessment. Furthermore, the participants' actions and responses to
a questionnaire allowed us to analyze the aspects influencing test code
readability and the benefits and limitations of an interactive approach in the
context of test case generation, paving the way for future developments based
on interactivity.
