They certainly do need programming. I've never said they didn't. However, in you case, the programming is very simple - much simpler than organizing I2C communications.
Assembler or C. You use them both as "slaves" to whatever is your source. Do I understand correctly that you have 8 data lines, and you want to set your 120 outputs according to the signal on these 8 lines (that is 256 different combinations of signals)?
sorry,
had to edit...
looked into both assembler and C- both require an unacceptable learning curve time for this project- think, tho- that they are worth learning for future projects
thx,
jim