consider the discrete Fourier transform of a signal $x_n$
$$X_k = \sum_{n=0}^{N-1} x_n e^{-2 i \pi nk / N}$$
if $N$ is even, you get the trigonometric interpolation of $x_n$ as
$$x(t) = \frac{1}{N}\sum_{k=-N/2}^{N/2-1} X_k e^{2 i \pi k t/ N}$$
so its derivative is
$$x'(t) = \frac{1}{N}\sum_{k=-N/2}^{N/2-1} \frac{2 i \pi k}{N} X_k e^{2 i \pi k t / N}$$ by sampling it you get $y_n = x'(n)$ whose discrete Fourier transform is
$$Y_k = \sum_{n=-N/2}^{N/2-1} y_n e^{-2 i \pi nk / N} = \left\{\begin{array}{ll}\frac{2 i \pi k}{N} X_k& \text{if } k < N/2 \\
\frac{2 i \pi (k-N)}{N} X_k& \text{otherwise}
\end{array}\right.$$
so multiplying a discrete Fourier transform by $$H_k = \left\{\begin{array}{ll}\frac{2 i \pi k}{N} & \text{if } k < N/2 \\
\frac{2 i \pi (k-N)}{N} & \text{otherwise}\end{array}\right.$$ corresponds to taking the derivative of the trigonometric interpolation : $h_n$ the inverse discrete Fourier transform of $H_k$ is said to be a discrete derivative filter.
there are many discrete derivative filters, all with their pros and cons.
$[1,-1]$ is among them and has the advantage to be the simplest and the most local,
but $h_n$ has the advantage to be ideal if the signal to be differentiated has been sampled from a continuous (periodic) function respecting the Shannon theorem (only its $N/2$ first Fourier series coefficients are non-zeros)